Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Price Target Raised to C$53.00 at Desjardins

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price target increased by Desjardins from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. Desjardins currently has a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$42.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank increased 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 research report on Friday. TD Securities raised Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price 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. Finally, CIBC upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Great-West Lifeco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Down 1.3 %

TSE:GWO opened at C$51.71 on Friday. Great-West Lifeco has a one year low of C$38.44 and a one year high of C$52.47. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$47.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$46.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.61, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 37.46. The stock has a market cap of C$48.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported C$1.14 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 posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.555 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $2.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.29%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Paul Mahon sold 146,826 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$49.88, for a total transaction of C$7,323,842.39. Also, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$49.50, for a total value of C$1,306,800.00. Insiders sold a total of 174,613 shares of company stock worth $8,697,880 in the last three months. 70.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Great-West Lifeco Company Profile

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.