Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Shares Cross Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - What's Next?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$49.82 and traded as high as C$53.27. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$52.90, with a volume of 3,783,751 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 report on Thursday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped 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 report on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank increased 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Desjardins lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$56.00.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 1.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of C$48.28 billion, a PE ratio of 11.87, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The company's 50 day simple moving average is C$53.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$49.97.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.70%. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio is 50.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total transaction of C$1,383,300.00. Also, insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 75,457 shares of the company'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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 144,257 shares of company stock valued at $7,640,646. 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.