Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$93.27.

GWO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD increased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$98.00 to C$106.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$86.00 to C$87.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Scotia boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$78.00 to C$83.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Desjardins raised their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 in a report on Thursday, July 30th.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Down 1.4%

GWO opened at C$89.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of C$79.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.63, a current ratio of 6.07 and a quick ratio of 22.18. The firm's fifty day moving average price is C$91.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$78.24. Great-West Lifeco has a fifty-two week low of C$52.51 and a fifty-two week high of C$94.10.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported C$1.42 EPS for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 15.48%. The company had revenue of C$8.35 billion during the quarter. On average, analysts anticipate that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 29th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Great-West Lifeco's payout ratio is currently 52.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$86.20, for a total transaction of C$3,448,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at C$757,180.80. This represents a 81.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$89.55, for a total transaction of C$1,791,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 160 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$14,328. This represents a 99.21% decrease in their position. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.

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