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

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$66.44.

GWO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$67.00 in a report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group upgraded Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. TD Securities raised their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Scotiabank raised 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 research note on Thursday, February 5th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$64.51, for a total value of C$6,098,259.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$317,131.16. This represents a 95.06% decrease in their position. Company insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

TSE:GWO opened at C$61.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of C$55.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.53. Great-West Lifeco has a fifty-two week low of C$49.54 and a fifty-two week high of C$68.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$65.45 and a 200-day moving average price of C$60.08.

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

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.34%.

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.