Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$52.22.

GWO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$42.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. CIBC raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Desjardins raised their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, TD Securities raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Friday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Paul Mahon sold 146,826 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$49.88, for a total transaction of C$7,323,842.39. Also, Senior Officer Colleen Nancy Bailey Moffitt sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$49.11, for a total value of C$40,515.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 66 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$3,241.26. The trade was a 92.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold 174,613 shares of company stock worth $8,697,880 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of TSE:GWO opened at C$51.71 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 37.46, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.61. The stock has a market capitalization of C$48.20 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. Great-West Lifeco has a 1 year low of C$38.44 and a 1 year high of C$52.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of C$47.35 and a 200 day moving average price of C$46.13.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.555 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 55.78%.

Great-West Lifeco Company Profile

Great-West Lifeco Inc engages in the life and health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management, and reinsurance businesses in Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company offers life, accidental death and dismemberment, disability, critical illness, health and dental protection, and creditor insurance products; and retirement and wealth savings, income and annuity products, and other specialty products to individuals, families, businesses, and organizations.