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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GWO shares. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted 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. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$64.00 to C$77.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$76.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Scotia boosted 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 report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$77.18.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 0.7%

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$74.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$68.01. 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 company has a current ratio of 6.57, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last released its 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, research analysts expect 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 46,413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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. Also, insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 19,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$79.57, for a total transaction of C$1,575,486.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$12,731.20. This represents a 99.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders sold 105,613 shares of company stock valued at $7,528,257 in the last three months. 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.