Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 453,326 Shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG - Free Report) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,404,259 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 453,326 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.11% of Lloyds Banking Group worth $44,620,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 325.7% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 184,829 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 141,409 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Lloyds Banking Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $262,000. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 115,232 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $360,000 after acquiring an additional 56,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 58.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,659,629 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $20,778,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,914 shares during the period. 2.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LYG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HSBC raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com cut Lloyds Banking Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised Lloyds Banking Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lloyds Banking Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

Shares of LYG stock traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $3.88. 25,041,521 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,778,818. The stock's fifty day moving average is $3.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.20. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a fifty-two week low of $2.56 and a fifty-two week high of $4.00. The company has a market cap of $58.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.97.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.78 billion. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 11.45%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $0.1035 dividend. This is a positive change from Lloyds Banking Group's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. This represents a dividend yield of 4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. Lloyds Banking Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.14%.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance, Pensions and Investments. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal customers.