Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as C$22.57 and last traded at C$52.99, with a volume of 440010 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$53.12.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on GWO. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. CIBC raised Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities raised Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$49.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$50.12 and a 200 day moving average price of C$48.20.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is currently 50.79%.

Insider Activity at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of the company’s 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 value of C$1,383,300.00. Also, Senior Officer Linda Kerrigan sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$51.64, for a total transaction of C$438,927.25. Insiders sold 69,362 shares of company stock worth $3,634,696 in the last three months. 70.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.