Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as C$57.61 and last traded at C$57.47, with a volume of 2611309 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$57.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. CIBC raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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 research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Desjardins raised 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of C$53.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$51.72 and a 200 day moving average price of C$48.86.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is presently 50.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In related news, Senior Officer Dervla Mary Tomlin sold 5,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.17, for a total transaction of C$271,292.84. Also, Senior Officer Linda Kerrigan sold 8,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$51.64, for a total value of C$438,927.25. Insiders have sold 68,800 shares of company stock worth $3,607,975 over the last quarter. Insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

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.