Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Upgraded at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO - Free Report) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Securities increased their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$58.00 to C$57.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st. CIBC reduced 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 reduced 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. 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 research analysts have rated the stock with 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 stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of C$55.56.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.6%

TSE:GWO traded up C$0.29 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting C$52.39. 1,466,995 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,110,722. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$51.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$51.11. Great-West Lifeco has a 12 month low of C$39.45 and a 12 month high of C$57.61. The firm has a market capitalization of C$48.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.66%. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 transaction of C$1,873,520.32. Also, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 20,700 shares of the business's 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. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.