Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Given New C$58.00 Price Target at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays has raised its price target for Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) from C$57.00 to C$58.00, maintaining an "overweight" rating on the stock.
• Scotiabank and Desjardins also increased their target prices for Great-West Lifeco to C$61.00 and C$55.00 respectively, indicating strong confidence in the company's performance.
• The board has authorized a stock repurchase plan, signaling that leadership believes the stock is undervalued, which can enhance shareholder value.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by equities researchers at Barclays from C$57.00 to C$58.00 in a report released on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Barclays's price objective suggests a potential downside of 0.10% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on GWO. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$61.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Desjardins lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of C$57.22.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Shares of GWO traded up C$0.56 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching C$58.06. The company had a trading volume of 342,975 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,719,275. The company's 50 day simple moving average is C$54.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$52.93. Great-West Lifeco has a 1-year low of C$44.89 and a 1-year high of C$58.45. The company has a market capitalization of C$53.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.65.

Great-West Lifeco announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership 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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