Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$93.27.

GWO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Desjardins boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$84.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$97.00 in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$86.00 to C$87.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$86.20, for a total transaction of C$3,448,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,784 shares in the company, valued at C$757,180.80. This represents a 81.99% decrease in their position. Also, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total value of C$3,007,402.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$207,693.93. This represents a 93.54% decrease in their position. Insiders have sold a total of 119,200 shares of company stock valued at $9,821,888 over the last 90 days. 70.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Shares of Great-West Lifeco stock opened at C$92.14 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of C$88.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$75.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.63, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 6.07. The stock has a market capitalization of C$82.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.68. Great-West Lifeco has a 52 week low of C$52.51 and a 52 week high of C$94.10.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported C$1.42 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.35 billion for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 15.48% and a net margin of 12.49%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is 52.89%.

Great-West Lifeco Company Profile

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.