Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Given New C$67.00 Price Target at Jefferies Financial Group

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price objective boosted by Jefferies Financial Group from C$60.00 to C$67.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$60.00 target price on Great-West Lifeco and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 19th. Barclays lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$70.00 in a report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$65.44.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of GWO stock opened at C$64.11 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of C$58.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$65.88 and a 200-day moving average of C$59.68. Great-West Lifeco has a 1-year low of C$44.89 and a 1-year high of C$68.56.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.33 EPS for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 14.81%. The business had revenue of C$8.21 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$64.51, for a total transaction of C$6,098,259.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,916 shares in the company, valued at C$317,131.16. The trade was a 95.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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.