Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) Earns "Underperform" Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its “underperform” rating on Legal & General Group, maintaining a GBX 270 price target—about 6.64% below the stock’s GBX 289.20 opening price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly negative: the stock has an average “Reduce” rating and a GBX 276.86 consensus target, with four sell ratings versus two buys and one hold.
• Legal & General reported quarterly EPS of GBX 8.01, a 27.28% return on equity, and a 0.91% net margin; insiders have purchased 10,979 shares over the past 90 days.

Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "underperform" rating restated by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Digital Look reports. They presently have a GBX 270 price objective on the financial services provider's stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's price objective would indicate a potential downside of 6.64% from the company's current price.

LGEN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup cut Legal & General Group to a "sell" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from GBX 251 to GBX 245 in a report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Legal & General Group from GBX 285 to GBX 270 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Peel Hunt restated an "add" rating and issued a GBX 320 target price on shares of Legal & General Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a GBX 185 target price on shares of Legal & General Group in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Berenberg Bank increased their price target on shares of Legal & General Group from GBX 353 to GBX 385 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of GBX 276.86.

Legal & General Group Stock Performance

LON LGEN opened at GBX 289.20 on Wednesday. Legal & General Group has a 52-week low of GBX 217.20 and a 52-week high of GBX 318.10. The company has a market capitalization of £15.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of GBX 295.21 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 273.46.

Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported GBX 8.01 EPS for the quarter. Legal & General Group had a return on equity of 27.28% and a net margin of 0.91%. As a group, analysts forecast that Legal & General Group will post 24.2376446 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Legal & General Group

In related news, insider Mark Jordy purchased 3,683 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 287 per share, with a total value of £10,570.21. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 10,979 shares of company stock worth $3,218,925. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Legal & General Group

Legal & General Group Plc provides various insurance products and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates in Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Legal & General Capital (LGC), and Retail segments. The LGRI segment offers annuity contracts with guaranteed income for a specified time; and longevity insurance products. The LGIM segment offers index fund management; active fixed income funds and liquidity funds; active equity management; solution and liability driven investment; multi-asset funds; corporate pension scheme solutions; and real assets.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.