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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD raised their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$73.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Desjardins increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$71.00 to C$80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$75.00 to C$81.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$83.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$77.18.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59, a current ratio of 6.57 and a quick ratio of 22.18. The firm has a market capitalization of C$70.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is C$68.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$65.88.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great-West Lifeco 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 value of C$3,007,402.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,721 shares in the company, 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 stock was sold at an average price of C$63.46, for a total transaction of C$2,945,368.98. Company insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

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.