Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded the stock to a neutral rating. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now has a GBX 85 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of GBX 79. Lloyds Banking Group traded as high as GBX 80.92 ($1.08) and last traded at GBX 80.78 ($1.07), with a volume of 2147000000 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 75.69 ($1.01).

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on LLOY. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Lloyds Banking Group to an “outperform” rating and set a GBX 95 ($1.26) price objective for the company in a research note on Monday. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a GBX 74 ($0.98) price objective on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 75 ($1.00) to GBX 77 ($1.02) and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of GBX 77.20 ($1.03).

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lloyds Banking Group news, insider William Chalmers bought 152,181 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 76 ($1.01) per share, with a total value of £115,657.56 ($153,718.18). Also, insider Charlie Nunn bought 238,593 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 76 ($1.01) per share, with a total value of £181,330.68 ($241,003.03). 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of £50.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 76.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 71.77.

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported GBX 3.80 ($0.05) EPS for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 11.22% and a net margin of 16.66%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 7.3199528 earnings per share for the current year.

About Lloyds Banking Group

We are the largest UK retail and commercial financial services provider with over 25 million customers and a presence in nearly every community.

The Group’s main business activities are retail and commercial banking, general insurance and long-term savings, provided through the largest branch network and digital bank in the UK, with well recognised brands including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows.

Our shares are quoted on the London and New York stock exchanges and we are one of the largest companies in the FTSE 100 index.