Key Points
- Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of Great-West Lifeco on May 11 at an average price of C$76.33, for proceeds of about C$3.0 million. After the sale, Dong’s holdings fell by more than 93% to 2,721 shares.
- Great-West Lifeco’s stock was trading near its 52-week high, opening at C$76.03 and remaining up slightly on the day. The company has also outperformed its longer-term averages, with the share price well above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
- The company boosted its dividend and posted solid earnings, with quarterly EPS of C$1.37 and revenue of C$8.37 billion. The dividend was raised to C$0.67 per share quarterly, implying a 3.5% yield.
Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total value of C$3,007,402.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately C$207,693.93. This represents a 93.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock.
Great-West Lifeco Trading Up 0.1%
TSE:GWO opened at C$76.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$67.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$65.24. The stock has a market cap of C$68.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.59. Great-West Lifeco Inc. has a 1 year low of C$49.71 and a 1 year high of C$77.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59, a quick ratio of 22.18 and a current ratio of 6.57.
Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported C$1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$8.37 billion during the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 15.17% and a net margin of 12.86%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Great-West Lifeco Inc. will post 4.4525194 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Great-West Lifeco Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is an increase from Great-West Lifeco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Great-West Lifeco's payout ratio is currently 53.76%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
GWO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$75.00 to C$81.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$70.00 to C$76.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$68.00 to C$70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$73.00 to C$80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial upped their target price on Great-West Lifeco from C$65.00 to C$73.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of C$77.18.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Great-West Lifeco
About Great-West Lifeco
(
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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. In 2020, Great-West announced it would acquire Personal Capital and MassMutual's recordkeeping business. In Europe, Great-West offers life insurance, annuities, and reinsurance primarily in the U.K., Ireland, and Germany.
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