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

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$93.27.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$86.00 to C$87.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$77.00 to C$91.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$97.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, National Bank Financial increased their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:GWO opened at C$90.32 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$91.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$82.94. The company has a market cap of C$80.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.63, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 6.07. Great-West Lifeco has a one year low of C$56.26 and a one year high of C$95.96.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported C$1.42 earnings per share for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 15.48% and a net margin of 12.49%.The firm had revenue of C$8.35 billion during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 29th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 1st. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 52.89%.

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.