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

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$50.61 and traded as high as C$52.04. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$51.32, with a volume of 9,298,443 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$54.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$48.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of C$55.56.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

The company's 50 day moving average price is C$52.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$50.63. The stock has a market capitalization of C$47.80 billion, a PE ratio of 11.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.79%.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 20,700 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 26th. The shares were 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 Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$51.05, for a total transaction of C$1,873,520.32. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 142,157 shares of company stock valued at $7,464,387. Corporate 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.