Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Receives C$55.56 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$55.56.

Several analysts have commented on GWO shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$57.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st. National Bankshares lowered their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$53.00 price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer Dervla Mary Tomlin sold 36,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$51.05, for a total transaction of C$1,873,520.32. Also, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 20,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$51.85, for a total transaction of C$1,073,263.95. Insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

TSE GWO opened at C$52.02 on Monday. Great-West Lifeco has a 1 year low of C$39.45 and a 1 year high of C$57.61. The firm has a market cap of C$48.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$51.50 and a 200-day moving average price of C$51.50.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.69%. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 50.79%.

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.