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

Key Points

• Great-West Lifeco Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a target price of C$57.22 over the next 12 months.
• The company recently paid a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, yielding approximately 4.2%, and has a dividend payout ratio of 58.40%.
• Great-West Lifeco's board has initiated a share repurchase plan, signaling a belief that the company's stock is undervalued.

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$57.22.

GWO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Securities raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$66.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Desjardins raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$57.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.4%

Great-West Lifeco stock opened at C$58.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of C$53.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$54.75 and a 200-day moving average of C$53.03. Great-West Lifeco has a 52 week low of C$44.89 and a 52 week high of C$58.52.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 29th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.40%.

Great-West Lifeco announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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