Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$52.22.

A number of research firms recently commented on GWO. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer Linda Kerrigan sold 8,500 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$51.64, for a total transaction of C$438,927.25. Also, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total transaction of C$1,383,300.00. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 60,062 shares of company stock valued at $3,149,764. Insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

Shares of GWO stock opened at C$54.17 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of C$49.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$47.60. The firm has a market cap of C$50.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. Great-West Lifeco has a 1-year low of C$38.44 and a 1-year high of C$54.64.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.50%. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.79%.

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.