Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$93.27.

Several research analysts have issued reports on GWO shares. Desjardins increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$86.00 to C$87.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$90.00 to C$92.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great-West Lifeco news, insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$89.55, for a total value of C$1,791,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 160 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$14,328. This trade represents a 99.21% decrease in their position. Also, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total transaction of C$3,007,402.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,721 shares in the company, valued at C$207,693.93. The trade was a 93.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 119,200 shares of company stock valued at $9,821,888 in the last 90 days. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

TSE:GWO opened at C$92.14 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$88.64 and a 200-day moving average of C$75.01. The company has a market capitalization of C$82.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.68. Great-West Lifeco has a 52 week low of C$52.51 and a 52 week high of C$94.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.63, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 6.07.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported C$1.42 earnings per share for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 15.48%. The business had revenue of C$8.35 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio is 52.89%.

About Great-West Lifeco

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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