Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as C$54.84 and last traded at C$54.72, with a volume of 18404 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$54.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GWO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. CIBC upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities raised shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of C$51.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is C$51.07 and its 200-day moving average is C$48.63.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This is a boost from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.79%.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 9,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.14, for a total transaction of C$484,931.76. Also, Director Christine Marie Moritz sold 4,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.09, for a total transaction of C$244,827.70. Insiders sold a total of 69,362 shares of company stock valued at $3,634,696 over the last three months. Corporate 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.