Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$49.28 and traded as high as C$52.28. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$51.53, with a volume of 3,124,141 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on GWO shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$54.00 to C$59.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$48.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Friday. Desjardins boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. CIBC raised Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$55.00.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 1.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of C$47.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$52.90 and a 200-day moving average of C$49.30.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is 50.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Senior Officer Dervla Mary Tomlin sold 5,200 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.17, for a total transaction of C$271,292.84. Also, Director Christine Marie Moritz sold 4,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.09, for a total value of C$244,827.70. Insiders have sold a total of 144,257 shares of company stock valued at $7,640,646 over the last 90 days. 70.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.