Barclays Lowers Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Price Target to C$47.00

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its target price lowered by Barclays from C$48.00 to C$47.00 in a report published on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on GWO. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 research note on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$58.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$54.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$55.00.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

Shares of GWO opened at C$51.00 on Friday. Great-West Lifeco has a 12 month low of C$38.44 and a 12 month high of C$57.61. The stock has a market cap of C$47.48 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is C$52.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$49.30.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.78%. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.31, for a total value of C$784,695.00. Also, Director Christine Marie Moritz sold 4,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.09, for a total transaction of C$244,827.70. Insiders have sold 144,257 shares of company stock worth $7,640,646 over the last quarter. 70.70% of the stock is 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.