Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) – Equities research analysts at National Bank Financial boosted their FY2015 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Great-West Lifeco in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday, according to Zacks Investment Research. National Bank Financial analyst P. Routledge now forecasts that the firm will post earnings per share of $2.77 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $2.76. National Bank Financial currently has a “Sector Perform” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Great-West Lifeco’s Q4 2015 earnings at $0.69 EPS and Q3 2016 earnings at $0.72 EPS.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GWO. Barclays lowered their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. RBC Capital upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$37.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 6th. CIBC upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$36.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Finally, TD Securities upped their price objective on Great-West Lifeco from C$36.00 to C$37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$36.50.

Shares of Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) opened at 33.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.55 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34. Great-West Lifeco has a one year low of $30.42 and a one year high of $37.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.30.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.326 per share. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 1st.

In other Great-West Lifeco news, insider Paul Mahon sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$35.00, for a total transaction of C$2,100,000.00. Also, insider Lifeco U.S. Holding Great-West acquired 691,453 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Monday, November 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$35.70 per share, with a total value of C$24,684,249.79.

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (TSE:GWO) is a Canada-based financial services holding company. The Company has interests in the life insurance, health insurance, asset management, investment and retirement savings, and reinsurance businesses. Lifeco has operations in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia through The Great-West Life Assurance Company (Great-West), London Life Insurance Company (London Life), The Canada Life Assurance Company (Canada Life), Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company (Great-West Financial), Putnam Investments, LLC (Putnam), Canada Life Limited and Irish Life Group Limited (Irish Life). Lifeco, through its operating subsidiaries, provides products and services under various brands, including the Great-West Life and Canada Life brands, the Freedom 55 Financial brand, the Irish Life brand, the Great-West Financial brand, the Empower Retirement brand, and the Putnam Investments and PanAgora brands.

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