Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Sets New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as C$22.57 and last traded at C$52.99, with a volume of 440010 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$53.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GWO shares. Desjardins raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Great-West Lifeco from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. 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. Finally, CIBC raised Great-West Lifeco from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$52.22.

Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 1.0 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of C$50.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$48.33. The company has a market capitalization of C$50.29 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

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Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. This is a positive change from Great-West Lifeco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Senior Officer David Martin Harney sold 562 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of C$47.55, for a total value of C$26,721.58. Also, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total value of C$1,383,300.00. Insiders have sold a total of 69,362 shares of company stock valued at $3,634,696 in the last quarter. 70.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.