Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus “Reduce” rating on Legal & General Group, with four sells, one hold and two buys among seven brokerages. The average 12-month price target is GBX 276.86.
• Recent broker actions were mixed but generally cautious: JPMorgan and Citi lowered their targets, while Berenberg raised its target to GBX 385 and maintained a buy rating.
• Shares opened at GBX 291.90, near the 50-day average of GBX 295.75, while the company reported quarterly EPS of GBX 8.01 and a 27.28% return on equity.

Shares of Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is GBX 276.86.

LGEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Peel Hunt reissued an "add" rating and set a GBX 320 target price on shares of Legal & General Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an "underperform" rating and issued a GBX 185 price objective on shares of Legal & General Group in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Legal & General Group from GBX 285 to GBX 270 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Citigroup lowered shares of Legal & General Group to a "sell" rating and reduced their price target for the company from GBX 251 to GBX 245 in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Berenberg Bank increased their target price on Legal & General Group from GBX 353 to GBX 385 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th.

Legal & General Group Price Performance

Shares of Legal & General Group stock opened at GBX 291.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 295.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 274.71. Legal & General Group has a 52-week low of GBX 217.20 and a 52-week high of GBX 318.10. The firm has a market cap of £15.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Mark Jordy acquired 3,683 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 287 per share, for a total transaction of £10,570.21. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 11,056 shares of company stock valued at $3,241,178. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Legal & General Group Company Profile

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.

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