May Hill Capital LLC Takes Position in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

May Hill Capital LLC purchased a new position in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 83,483 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LYG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 58.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,659,629 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $20,778,000 after acquiring an additional 2,456,914 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets acquired a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,035,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 20.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,055,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,293,000 after buying an additional 180,178 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 288,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $786,000 after acquiring an additional 39,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 389.2% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 133,398 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 106,128 shares during the last quarter. 2.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LYG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC upgraded Lloyds Banking Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Lloyds Banking Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Lloyds Banking Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $2.75.

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Down 7.8 %

Lloyds Banking Group stock traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $3.39. 36,345,257 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,664,159. The firm has a market cap of $51.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.26 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $3.49 and a 200 day moving average of $3.08. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a 12 month low of $2.42 and a 12 month high of $3.91.

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

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $0.1035 dividend. This is an increase from Lloyds Banking Group's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 4%. Lloyds Banking Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.61%.

About Lloyds Banking Group

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.