Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) Reaches New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Legal & General Group reached a new 52-week high, trading as high as GBX 302.68 before closing at GBX 298.10 on substantial volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: the stock has a consensus “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of GBX 251, despite Berenberg’s “Buy” rating and GBX 308 target.
• Insiders have recently purchased shares, with 8,519 shares bought over the past three months; insiders collectively own 0.59% of the company.

Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as GBX 302.68 and last traded at GBX 298.10, with a volume of 13516094 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 299.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LGEN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Legal & General Group to an "underperform" rating and set a GBX 185 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Legal & General Group from GBX 249 to GBX 251 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Berenberg Bank reissued a "buy" rating and issued a GBX 308 price target on shares of Legal & General Group in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of GBX 251.

Legal & General Group Stock Down 0.5%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 282.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 267.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 59.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1,100.04. The firm has a market capitalization of £16.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ric Lewis bought 931 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 253 per share, for a total transaction of £2,355.43. Also, insider Mark Jordy purchased 3,683 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 287 per share, for a total transaction of £10,570.21. In the last three months, insiders have bought 8,519 shares of company stock worth $2,299,198. Corporate insiders own 0.59% of the company's stock.

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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