Brokerages Set Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Target Price at C$52.22

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$52.22.

A number of brokerages have commented on GWO. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, CIBC raised Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Activity at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total transaction of C$1,383,300.00. Also, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$47.55, for a total value of C$26,721.58. Insiders sold 69,362 shares of company stock worth $3,634,696 in the last three months. 70.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of GWO opened at C$54.48 on Tuesday. Great-West Lifeco has a 52-week low of C$38.44 and a 52-week high of C$54.64. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$50.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$48.53. The company has a market capitalization of C$50.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.79%.

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.