Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Price

Key Points

• Analysts at Barclays raised the price target for Great-West Lifeco from C$56.00 to C$57.00, rating the stock as "equal weight" with a potential upside of 5.61%.
• The company initiated a stock buyback program on August 5th, allowing it to repurchase shares, which suggests management believes the stock is undervalued.
• Great-West Lifeco has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of C$56.67, and insider ownership stands at 70.70%.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO - Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Barclays from C$56.00 to C$57.00 in a report released on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

GWO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. CIBC decreased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$57.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$57.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st. National Bankshares decreased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$52.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$53.00 price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Great-West Lifeco currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of C$56.67.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

GWO stock traded up C$0.28 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching C$53.28. The stock had a trading volume of 2,593,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,942,318. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$51.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$51.86. Great-West Lifeco has a fifty-two week low of C$40.16 and a fifty-two week high of C$57.61. The stock has a market capitalization of C$49.60 billion, a PE ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 29th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Great-West Lifeco's payout ratio is presently 50.79%.

Great-West Lifeco announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, August 5th that allows the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 20,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$51.85, for a total transaction of C$1,073,263.95. Also, Senior Officer Dervla Mary Tomlin sold 36,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$51.05, for a total value of C$1,873,520.32. Insiders own 70.70% of the company's stock.

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.