Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Insider Jean-Francois Poulin Sells 19,800 Shares

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 19,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$79.57, for a total transaction of C$1,575,486.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 160 shares in the company, valued at C$12,731.20. This trade represents a 99.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Down 0.1%

GWO stock traded down C$0.05 during trading on Monday, hitting C$79.35. 181,574 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,616,611. Great-West Lifeco Inc. has a 1 year low of C$49.78 and a 1 year high of C$79.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is C$69.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$66.30. The stock has a market cap of C$71.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59, a current ratio of 6.57 and a quick ratio of 22.18.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 EPS for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 15.17%. The company had revenue of C$8.37 billion for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is currently 53.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. National Bank Financial upped their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$83.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$64.00 to C$77.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$77.18.

About Great-West Lifeco

Great-West Lifeco is one of the three big Canadian life insurance firms. With just under half of the firm’s profit and revenue in Canada, Great-West also operates in the U.S. and Europe. In Canada, Great-West provides both individual and group insurance. In the United States, Great-West operates Putnam Investments and defined-contribution recordkeeping firm Empower Retirement. In 2020, Great-West announced it would acquire Personal Capital and MassMutual’s recordkeeping business. In Europe, Great-West offers life insurance, annuities, and reinsurance primarily in the U.K., Ireland, and Germany.