Updating your Conservative-Growth Payers: Great-West Lifeco.

Article Excerpt

GREAT-WEST LIFECO INC. $38 is a hold. The company (Toronto symbol GWO; Conservative Growth Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; shares outstanding: 930.5 million; Market cap: $35.4 billion; Dividend yield: 4.6%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Above Average; www.greatwestlifeco.com) is Canada’s second-largest life insurer, after Manulife Financial. Power Corp. (Toronto symbol POW) owns 66.8% of the firm. Canada’s banking regulator—the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OFSI)—has lifted the restrictions on capital distributions it placed on banks and insurers in March 2020 due to COVID-19 uncertainty. As a result, Great-West will pay a special dividend of $0.052 a share on December 31, 2021. That’s in addition to its regular quarterly payment of $0.438 a share; the annual rate of $1.752 yields a high 4.6%. The company now plans to pay out as dividends between 45% and 55% of its earnings before unusual items. The current annual dividend rate is equal to 50.3% of Great-West’s projected 2021 earnings. Revenue in the third quarter of 2021 increased 27.0%, to $17.4 billion from…