Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Given New C$64.00 Price Target at Royal Bank Of Canada

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price target lifted by research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from C$60.00 to C$64.00 in a research note issued on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 3.81% from the company’s previous close.

GWO has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$60.00 to C$66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$67.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. TD Securities increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$70.00 in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Great-West Lifeco to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$67.22.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of GWO traded up C$0.61 during trading hours on Friday, reaching C$61.65. 693,439 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,466,180. The stock has a market capitalization of C$55.93 billion, a PE ratio of 14.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.53. Great-West Lifeco has a fifty-two week low of C$49.54 and a fifty-two week high of C$68.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$65.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$60.08.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported C$1.33 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$8.21 billion during the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 14.81%. Research analysts predict that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 94,532 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$64.51, for a total value of C$6,098,259.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$317,131.16. This represents a 95.06% decrease in their position. 70.70% of the stock is 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. In 2020, Great-West announced it would acquire Personal Capital and MassMutual’s recordkeeping business. In Europe, Great-West offers life insurance, annuities, and reinsurance primarily in the U.K., Ireland, and Germany.