Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company.

LYG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crux Wealth Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Brentview Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 2.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Up 2.7%

NYSE LYG opened at $4.21 on Friday. Lloyds Banking Group has a 1-year low of $2.56 and a 1-year high of $4.22. The company has a market cap of $63.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $3.78 and a 200-day moving average of $3.26.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.78 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.1035 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. This represents a dividend yield of 4%. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio is 57.14%.

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.