Captrust Financial Advisors Sells 75,007 Shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

Captrust Financial Advisors lessened its stake in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG - Free Report) by 62.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,783 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 75,007 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors' holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 26,669,053 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $72,540,000 after acquiring an additional 2,713,559 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,404,259 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $44,620,000 after acquiring an additional 453,326 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 34.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,604,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $42,444,000 after acquiring an additional 4,021,039 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,611,908 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $17,984,000 after acquiring an additional 604,924 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 5,601,459 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $15,236,000 after acquiring an additional 150,178 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 2.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LYG. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Performance

Shares of Lloyds Banking Group stock opened at $4.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $64.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average of $3.81 and a 200 day moving average of $3.27. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a fifty-two week low of $2.56 and a fifty-two week high of $4.28.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.78 billion. Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 8.46%. Analysts forecast that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.27 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.1035 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a yield of 4%. This is a boost from Lloyds Banking Group's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. Lloyds Banking Group's payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

Lloyds Banking Group 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.

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