Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) Short Interest Update

Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,750,000 shares, a decrease of 41.7% from the March 31st total of 25,320,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 32,050,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.5 days. Currently, 0.1% of the company's stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Lloyds Banking Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 26,669,053 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $72,540,000 after purchasing an additional 2,713,559 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 2.8% in the fourth 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 increased its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,604,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $42,444,000 after acquiring an additional 4,021,039 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 225.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,098,940 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $19,309,000 after purchasing an additional 4,914,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 58.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,659,629 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $20,778,000 after buying an additional 2,456,914 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 2.15% of the company's stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Performance

Shares of LYG stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $3.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,254,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,098,972. Lloyds Banking Group has a 1-year low of $2.55 and a 1-year high of $4.02. The company has a market cap of $60.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.95. The firm's 50-day moving average is $3.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.16.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.03). Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The firm had revenue of $9.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.76 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.1035 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is 60.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on LYG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. HSBC raised Lloyds Banking Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

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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