Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Reaches New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$23.66 and last traded at C$56.77, with a volume of 255563 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$56.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GWO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$56.00 to C$57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$55.00 to C$56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Desjardins lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$55.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$56.67.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of C$52.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average is C$54.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$52.87.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 29th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is presently 58.40%.

Great-West Lifeco announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $0.00 in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.