Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) Sets New 12-Month High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Lloyds Banking Group's shares reached a new 52-week high, trading at GBX 84.74, indicating strong market performance.
• Analysts have provided various ratings, with Jefferies boosting the target price to GBX 103 and a consensus rating of "Hold" across multiple firms, reflecting mixed outlooks on the stock.
• Insiders have shown confidence in the company by purchasing over 436,000 shares in recent transactions, suggesting strong internal belief in the firm's future performance.

Shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as GBX 84.74 ($1.14) and last traded at GBX 84.56 ($1.14), with a volume of 956891563 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 83.42 ($1.12).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on LLOY shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 92 to GBX 103 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Shore Capital restated a "hold" rating and set a GBX 74 target price on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 75 to GBX 77 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 85 to GBX 98 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Lloyds Banking Group to an "outperform" rating and set a GBX 95 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of GBX 89.40.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 81.56 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 76.50. The firm has a market cap of £50.23 billion, a PE ratio of 1,282.85, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.23.

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported GBX 3.80 EPS for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 11.22% and a net margin of 16.66%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 7.3199528 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lloyds Banking Group news, insider Charlie Nunn acquired 217,494 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 84 per share, with a total value of £182,694.96. Also, insider Chris Vogelzang acquired 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of GBX 84 per share, for a total transaction of £42,000. Insiders have acquired 436,717 shares of company stock valued at $36,562,228 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

We are the largest UK retail and commercial financial services provider with over 25 million customers and a presence in nearly every community. The Group's main business activities are retail and commercial banking, general insurance and long-term savings, provided through the largest branch network and digital bank in the UK, with well recognised brands including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows. Our shares are quoted on the London and New York stock exchanges and we are one of the largest companies in the FTSE 100 index.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.