Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res raised Lloyds Banking Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised Lloyds Banking Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. HSBC raised Lloyds Banking Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley raised Lloyds Banking Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Lloyds Banking Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Performance

LYG stock opened at $4.00 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $60.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 0.97. Lloyds Banking Group has a fifty-two week low of $2.56 and a fifty-two week high of $4.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $3.76 and a 200-day moving average of $3.24.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Equities analysts predict that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Lloyds Banking Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. May Hill Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $227,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,126,422 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,064,000 after buying an additional 70,838 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 288,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 39,685 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 389.2% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 133,398 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 106,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,226,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 2.15% of the company's stock.

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.

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