Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Share Price Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average - Here's Why

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report)'s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$51.02 and traded as high as C$52.55. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$52.10, with a volume of 2,550,331 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GWO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$53.00 price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$57.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. CIBC decreased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$57.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, National Bankshares decreased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$52.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of C$55.56.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$51.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$51.02. The stock has a market cap of C$48.51 billion, a PE ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 20,700 shares of the 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 the 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. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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