Analysts Set Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Target Price at C$52.22

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$52.22.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Desjardins lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Great-West Lifeco stock opened at C$53.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of C$50.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.29, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$48.87 and its 200-day moving average price is C$47.44. Great-West Lifeco has a 52-week low of C$38.44 and a 52-week high of C$54.11.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.54%. This is a boost from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Senior Officer Dervla Mary Tomlin sold 5,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.17, for a total transaction of C$271,292.84. Also, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total value of C$1,383,300.00. Insiders sold 60,062 shares of company stock valued at $3,149,764 over the last quarter. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.