Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Upgraded by Barclays to "Hold" Rating

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

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

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.6%

TSE:GWO traded up C$0.29 during trading hours on Monday, hitting C$52.39. The company had a trading volume of 1,466,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,110,722. Great-West Lifeco has a 1 year low of C$39.45 and a 1 year high of C$57.61. The company has a market cap of C$48.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of C$51.34 and a 200 day moving average of C$51.06.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 20,700 shares of the 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 the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. Company insiders own 70.70% of the company's stock.

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.