Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Shares Pass Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - What's Next?

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$47.74 and traded as high as C$52.78. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$52.10, with a volume of 5,315,161 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GWO has been the topic of a number of research reports. 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on 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 raised Great-West Lifeco from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from C$56.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities raised Great-West Lifeco from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$52.22.

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Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$48.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of C$49.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$47.91.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders 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 is a positive change 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 4.72%. Great-West Lifeco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.79%.

Insider Activity

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