Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Here's Why

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$50.73 and traded as high as C$51.17. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$51.08, with a volume of 2,774,601 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GWO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities raised their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a C$53.00 price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$54.00 to C$59.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. CIBC lowered their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$57.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$57.00 in a report on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$55.56.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of C$48.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is C$51.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$50.79.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 75,457 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$53.44, for a total value of C$4,032,671.09. 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 132,857 shares of company stock worth $6,979,455. 70.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Great-West Lifeco Company Profile

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.