Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) Lowered to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on LYG. HSBC upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Lloyds Banking Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lloyds Banking Group has an average rating of “Hold”.

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE LYG opened at $3.80 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $3.73 and its 200-day moving average is $3.18. The firm has a market cap of $57.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 0.95. Lloyds Banking Group has a 1-year low of $2.56 and a 1-year high of $4.00.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 11.45%. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.78 billion. Analysts forecast that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.1035 per share. This is an increase from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. This represents a dividend yield of 4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $19,309,000 after purchasing an additional 4,914,680 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the fourth quarter worth $11,226,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,604,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,444,000 after buying an additional 4,021,039 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 11.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,713,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,456,914 shares in the last quarter. 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.