Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $6.00 According to Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Lloyds Banking Group “Hold” overall: Six analysts recommend buying, four recommend holding and one recommends selling. The consensus 12-month price target is $6.00, compared with the reported share price of $5.33.
• Recent earnings fell short of expectations: Lloyds reported quarterly EPS of $0.13 versus the $0.14 consensus estimate, while revenue of $6.57 billion missed forecasts of $6.86 billion.
• The company reduced its dividend: Lloyds paid a $0.084 per-share dividend, down from $0.134 previously, with a reported payout ratio of 37.21%.

Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $6.00.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Lloyds Banking Group from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Lloyds Banking Group from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd.

Institutional Trading of Lloyds Banking Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,005,022 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $46,669,000 after purchasing an additional 222,310 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 67.4% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 642,950 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,748,000 after purchasing an additional 258,941 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 2.9% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,564,633 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $73,250,000 after purchasing an additional 351,626 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the first quarter worth approximately $128,228,000. Finally, NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the second quarter worth approximately $8,072,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.15% of the company's stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Performance

NYSE LYG opened at $5.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 0.56. Lloyds Banking Group has a 1 year low of $4.51 and a 1 year high of $6.34. The company has a market capitalization of $76.82 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.70.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.01). Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 24.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.86 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were given a $0.0840 dividend. This is a negative change from Lloyds Banking Group's previous dividend of $0.1340. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. This represents a yield of 273.0%. Lloyds Banking Group's payout ratio is currently 37.21%.

About Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group plc is a UK-based financial services group whose American depositary shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LYG. The group provides banking, lending, insurance, pensions and investment services to individuals, businesses and institutional customers.

Its principal brands include Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows. Products and services include current and savings accounts, residential mortgages, personal and business loans, credit cards, commercial banking, asset finance, life insurance, pensions and investment solutions.

Lloyds Banking Group was formed in 2009 through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB.

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