Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$54.84 and last traded at C$54.72, with a volume of 18404 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$54.48.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GWO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. CIBC upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins boosted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$50.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$48.53. The company has a market capitalization of C$50.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.48%. This is a boost from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is currently 50.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 9,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.14, for a total transaction of C$484,931.76. Also, Director Christine Marie Moritz sold 4,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.09, for a total value of C$244,827.70. Insiders sold a total of 69,362 shares of company stock worth $3,634,696 in the last 90 days. 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.