Jefferies Financial Group Issues Positive Forecast for Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Price

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price objective lifted by Jefferies Financial Group from C$51.00 to C$58.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins lifted their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities increased their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$54.89.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

Shares of GWO opened at C$56.77 on Thursday. Great-West Lifeco has a one year low of C$38.44 and a one year high of C$57.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$51.92 and a 200 day moving average price of C$48.94. The company has a market capitalization of C$52.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Great-West Lifeco’s payout ratio is currently 50.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Christine Marie Moritz sold 4,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.09, for a total value of C$244,827.70. Also, Director Edmund Francis Murphy sold 15,000 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.31, for a total value of C$784,695.00. Insiders have sold 144,257 shares of company stock valued at $7,640,646 over the last three months. Company insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

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.