Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Director Sells C$3,007,402.00 in Stock

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total transaction of C$3,007,402.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$207,693.93. The trade was a 93.54% decrease in their position.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 0.1%

GWO stock traded up C$0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching C$76.00. 196,338 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,644,746. Great-West Lifeco Inc. has a 52 week low of C$49.71 and a 52 week high of C$77.04. The company has a market cap of C$68.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$67.25 and its 200-day moving average price is C$65.12. The company has a quick ratio of 22.18, a current ratio of 6.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 earnings per share for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 15.17% and a net margin of 12.86%.The company had revenue of C$8.37 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GWO shares. TD Securities upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lifted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$75.00 to C$81.00 in a research note on Friday. National Bank Financial increased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$73.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Desjardins boosted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$71.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$77.18.

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.