Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Here's What Happened

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report)'s stock price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$49.28 and traded as high as C$52.28. Great-West Lifeco shares last traded at C$51.53, with a volume of 3,124,141 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GWO shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$58.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$48.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$54.00 to C$59.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$53.00 to C$62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Great-West Lifeco currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$55.00.

Great-West Lifeco Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of C$48.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84. The business's fifty day moving average is C$52.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$49.41.

Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.61 dividend. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Great-West Lifeco's payout ratio is presently 50.79%.

Insider Transactions at Great-West Lifeco

In other Great-West Lifeco news, Director Charles Donald Harvey Henaire sold 26,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$53.00, for a total transaction of C$1,383,300.00. Also, Director Christine Marie Moritz sold 4,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$52.09, for a total value of C$244,827.70. In the last quarter, insiders sold 144,257 shares of company stock valued at $7,640,646. Company insiders own 70.70% of the company's stock.

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.