Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$52.22.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on 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.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.7 %

Great-West Lifeco stock opened at C$54.17 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$49.15 and a 200 day moving average price of C$47.60. Great-West Lifeco has a 52 week low of C$38.44 and a 52 week high of C$54.64. The firm has a market capitalization of C$50.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. 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 Activity

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Senior Officer Linda Kerrigan sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$51.64, for a total value of C$438,927.25. Also, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total value of C$1,383,300.00. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 60,062 shares of company stock worth $3,149,764. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.