L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings Sells 75,457 Shares of Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Stock

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) insider L.P. Great-West Lifeco U.S. Holdings sold 75,457 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.44, for a total transaction of C$4,032,671.09.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of GWO opened at C$56.77 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$51.92 and its 200-day moving average price is C$48.94. Great-West Lifeco Inc. has a twelve month low of C$38.44 and a twelve month high of C$57.61. The stock has a market cap of C$52.85 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Great-West Lifeco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GWO. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$54.00 to C$59.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$54.89.

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.