Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as C$52.59 and last traded at C$52.48, with a volume of 5328044 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$52.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of 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. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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, February 7th. CIBC upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of C$49.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of C$48.01 and a 200 day moving average of C$46.86.

Great-West Lifeco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.555 dividend. This represents a $2.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 50.79%.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.31, for a total transaction of C$784,695.00. Also, Senior Officer Linda Kerrigan sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$51.64, for a total value of C$438,927.25. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,962 shares of company stock valued at $1,766,464. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.