Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as C$78.92 and last traded at C$78.15, with a volume of 1762957 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$77.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GWO. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$75.00 to C$81.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$71.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. TD upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$73.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. National Bank Financial upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$83.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$77.18.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of C$70.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 6.57. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$68.86 and its 200 day moving average is C$65.88.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 EPS for the quarter. The business 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 53.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total transaction of C$3,007,402.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 46,413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$63.46, for a total transaction of C$2,945,368.98. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.