Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$82.43 and last traded at C$81.92, with a volume of 1579154 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$81.33.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GWO shares. Scotia lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$64.00 to C$77.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Desjardins lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$71.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$75.00 to C$81.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$76.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Great-West Lifeco currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$77.18.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.7%

The company has a quick ratio of 22.18, a current ratio of 6.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59. The stock has a market capitalization of C$73.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$74.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$68.01.

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

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 53.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 19,800 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$79.57, for a total value of C$1,575,486.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$12,731.20. The trade was a 99.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of Great-West Lifeco 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 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 105,613 shares of company stock valued at $7,528,257. 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.