Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$48.09 and traded as high as C$52.65. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$52.25, with a volume of 2,605,745 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on GWO. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins raised their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Cibc World Mkts raised Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, CIBC raised 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 research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$49.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$48.14. The company has a market cap of C$49.46 billion, a PE ratio of 12.15, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.59%. This is a positive change 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 currently 50.79%.

Insider Activity at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Christine Marie Moritz sold 4,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.09, for a total transaction of C$244,827.70. Also, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total transaction of C$1,383,300.00. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 69,362 shares of company stock valued at $3,634,696. Insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

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.