Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Boosts Stake in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) by 22.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 28,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,152 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $68,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 35,079,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,176,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449,866 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD raised its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 29,131,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,050,000 after purchasing an additional 2,336,000 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 27,050,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,757,000 after purchasing an additional 236,934 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 18,613,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,808,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,996,000 after purchasing an additional 635,339 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Performance

Lloyds Banking Group stock opened at $2.49 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.25. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a 1-year low of $1.88 and a 1-year high of $2.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market cap of $39.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.32.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 17.97% and a return on equity of 11.29%. The business had revenue of $19.05 billion during the quarter. On average, analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $0.046 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.9%. Lloyds Banking Group’s payout ratio is currently 45.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Bank of America upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.17.

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.