CIBC Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price target increased by analysts at CIBC from C$67.00 to C$73.00 in a report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. CIBC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 8.31% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on GWO. National Bankshares lifted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$66.00 to C$70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$59.00 in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Two investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$62.78.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Great-West Lifeco stock traded down C$0.83 on Thursday, hitting C$67.40. 398,758 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 980,133. The company has a market cap of C$61.14 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is C$64.48 and its 200-day moving average price is C$57.86. Great-West Lifeco has a 52 week low of C$44.89 and a 52 week high of C$68.56.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of C$8.21 billion for the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

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.