Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$67.22.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$64.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, TD Securities upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Shares of GWO opened at C$66.00 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is C$63.45 and its 200 day moving average price is C$62.56. Great-West Lifeco has a 12-month low of C$49.54 and a 12-month high of C$68.56. The stock has a market capitalization of C$59.87 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.93, a current ratio of 5.80 and a quick ratio of 22.18.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported C$1.36 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.34 billion during the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 10.96% and a return on equity of 13.98%. Equities research analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is presently 57.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 46,413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$63.46, for a total transaction of C$2,945,368.98. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.