Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as C$90.52 and last traded at C$90.37, with a volume of 1163079 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$88.72.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GWO. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$76.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Scotia increased their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Desjardins lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$71.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$64.00 to C$77.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$77.18.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 1.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of C$81.16 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average is C$79.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$70.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59, a current ratio of 6.57 and a quick ratio of 22.18.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.37 billion during the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 12.86% and a return on equity of 15.17%. On average, equities analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.76%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total transaction of C$3,007,402.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$207,693.93. This trade represents a 93.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 20,000 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Friday, June 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$89.55, for a total value of C$1,791,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 160 shares in the company, valued at C$14,328. This trade represents a 99.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders sold a total of 119,200 shares of company stock valued at $9,821,888 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

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.