David Martin Harney Sells 9,300 Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Stock

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 9,300 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.14, for a total value of C$484,931.76.

David Martin Harney also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, January 2nd, David Martin Harney sold 562 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock. The stock was sold at an average price of C$47.55, for a total value of C$26,721.58.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

Shares of GWO stock opened at C$51.12 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is C$49.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$47.79. The firm has a market cap of C$47.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. Great-West Lifeco Inc. has a one year low of C$38.44 and a one year high of C$54.64.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins increased their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Company Profile

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.