Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 52-Week High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Great-West Lifeco Inc. reached a new 52-week high of C$59.19, with recent trading closing at C$58.96 and a total volume of over 1 million shares exchanged.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Great-West Lifeco, with TD Securities setting the highest target at C$66.00 and UBS Group giving it a "strong-buy" rating.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, representing an annualized yield of 4.1% and a payout ratio of 58.40%.

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as C$59.19 and last traded at C$58.96, with a volume of 1024936 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$58.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GWO shares. TD Securities boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$66.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group raised Great-West Lifeco to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Desjardins boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Great-West Lifeco presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of C$58.44.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of C$55.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$53.16. The firm has a market cap of C$54.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.65.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 29th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio is presently 58.40%.

Great-West Lifeco declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, August 5th that permits the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are 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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