Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Upgraded at TD Securities

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) was upgraded by equities researchers at TD Securities from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a C$53.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of C$49.00. TD Securities’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 1.16% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on GWO. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$47.00 to C$51.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$42.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, CIBC raised their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$56.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Great-West Lifeco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$49.00.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Shares of Great-West Lifeco stock opened at C$52.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.61, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 37.46. Great-West Lifeco has a 1 year low of C$38.44 and a 1 year high of C$52.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is C$47.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$46.01. The firm has a market cap of C$48.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. Also, Senior Officer Colleen Nancy Bailey Moffitt sold 825 shares of the company’s 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 transaction of C$40,515.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 66 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$3,241.26. This represents a 92.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. Over the last three months, insiders sold 174,613 shares of company stock worth $8,697,880. Company insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

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.