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

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) was upgraded by investment analysts at Scotiabank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on GWO. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$42.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$56.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$47.00 to C$51.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$47.88.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 0.3 %

GWO stock opened at C$46.85 on Monday. The company has a market cap of C$43.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.77, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 22.18, a current ratio of 37.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$47.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$45.84. Great-West Lifeco has a 52 week low of C$38.44 and a 52 week high of C$50.99.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported C$1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$1.08 by C$0.06. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 11.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 562 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$47.55, for a total transaction of C$26,721.58. Also, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,400 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$49.50, for a total transaction of C$1,306,800.00. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 174,613 shares of company stock worth $8,697,880. 70.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Great-West Lifeco

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.