Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) to Issue Dividend Increase - $0.61 Per Share

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, March 3rd, TickerTech Dividends reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.61 per share on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Great-West Lifeco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.56.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Up 0.3 %

Great-West Lifeco stock traded up C$0.17 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting C$53.30. 5,834,184 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,687,295. The stock has a market capitalization of C$49.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. Great-West Lifeco has a 12 month low of C$38.44 and a 12 month high of C$53.95. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is C$48.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$47.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GWO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. CIBC upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of C$52.22.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In related news, Director Christine Marie Moritz sold 4,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.09, for a total transaction of C$244,827.70. Also, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 562 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$47.55, for a total transaction of C$26,721.58. Insiders sold a total of 60,062 shares of company stock valued at $3,149,764 over the last ninety days. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.