Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Given New C$78.00 Price Target at Scotia

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price objective hoisted by Scotia from C$71.00 to C$78.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,BayStreet.CA reports.

GWO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from C$67.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$64.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Desjardins upped their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$71.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$70.00.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of GWO stock opened at C$72.88 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 5.80, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 44.93. The stock has a market capitalization of C$66.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.57. Great-West Lifeco has a 12-month low of C$49.54 and a 12-month high of C$72.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is C$66.04 and its 200-day moving average price is C$64.38.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported C$1.36 EPS for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 10.96%.The company had revenue of C$8.34 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 3rd. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is currently 57.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great-West Lifeco news, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 46,413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$63.46, for a total value of C$2,945,368.98. 70.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.