Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$43.78.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays set a C$43.00 target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$43.00 to C$44.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$46.00 to C$42.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

TSE:GWO opened at C$46.25 on Tuesday. Great-West Lifeco has a one year low of C$37.06 and a one year high of C$46.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.61, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 37.46. The firm has a market cap of C$43.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is C$43.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$42.09.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported C$1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$1.05 by C$0.06. Great-West Lifeco had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 13.21%. The company had revenue of C$8.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$9.83 billion. Research analysts expect that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current year.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.555 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.22 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is 55.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 25,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$44.72, for a total transaction of C$1,135,888.00. 70.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Great-West Lifeco Company Profile

Great-West Lifeco Inc engages in the life and health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management, and reinsurance businesses in Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company offers life, accidental death and dismemberment, disability, critical illness, health and dental protection, and creditor insurance products; and retirement and wealth savings, income and annuity products, and other specialty products to individuals, families, businesses, and organizations.