Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from C$51.00 to C$58.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. Great-West Lifeco traded as high as C$57.61 and last traded at C$57.47, with a volume of 2611309 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$57.05.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on GWO. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. CIBC raised Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Cibc World Mkts raised Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Desjardins lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment 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 MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$54.89.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In related news, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 75,457 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.44, for a total value of C$4,032,671.09. Also, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 9,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.14, for a total transaction of C$484,931.76. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 144,257 shares of company stock valued at $7,640,646. Corporate insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 0.8 %

The firm has a market capitalization of C$52.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$52.12 and a 200-day moving average of C$49.02.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is presently 50.79%.

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.