Brokerages Set Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) Price Target at $2.75

Shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $2.75.

LYG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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. 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.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

NYSE LYG opened at $3.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.08. Lloyds Banking Group has a 52-week low of $2.42 and a 52-week high of $3.91.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $9.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.76 billion. On average, analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $0.1035 dividend. This is a positive change from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 4%. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.61%.

Institutional Trading of Lloyds Banking Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of LYG. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 225.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,098,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,309,000 after acquiring an additional 4,914,680 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth about $11,226,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 34.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,604,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,444,000 after purchasing an additional 4,021,039 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Lloyds Banking Group by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 26,669,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,540,000 after purchasing an additional 2,713,559 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,280,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,154,000 after buying an additional 2,472,263 shares during the last quarter. 2.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.