Insider Selling: Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Senior Officer Sells C$271,292.84 in Stock

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) Senior Officer Dervla Mary Tomlin sold 5,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of C$52.17, for a total transaction of C$271,292.84.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

Shares of TSE GWO opened at C$53.23 on Thursday. Great-West Lifeco Inc. has a one year low of C$38.44 and a one year high of C$53.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$48.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$47.08. The stock has a market capitalization of C$49.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.18, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.84.

Great-West Lifeco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.555 dividend. This represents a $2.22 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 3rd. Great-West Lifeco’s dividend payout ratio is 50.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GWO. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$51.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$59.00 to C$60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Desjardins increased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$49.00 to C$53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$52.00 to C$54.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of Great-West Lifeco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from C$49.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$52.22.

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.