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

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$22.61 and last traded at C$51.96, with a volume of 382760 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$52.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. CIBC cut their price objective on 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. National Bankshares cut their price objective on 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. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$53.00 price objective on Great-West Lifeco and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$57.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$54.00 to C$59.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Six equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Great-West Lifeco currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of C$55.56.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.4%

The business has a fifty day moving average of C$51.46 and a 200 day moving average of C$51.36. The company has a market capitalization of C$49.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.08, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 20,700 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$51.85, for a total value of C$1,073,263.95. Also, Senior Officer Dervla Mary Tomlin sold 36,700 shares of Great-West Lifeco 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. Company 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.