Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from GBX 100 to GBX 102. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Lloyds Banking Group traded as high as GBX 97.74 and last traded at GBX 97.20, with a volume of 99073742 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 95.50.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on LLOY. Shore Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a GBX 84 price objective on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a GBX 93 target price on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Friday, October 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 100 to GBX 110 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 105 price target on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 84 to GBX 97 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Lloyds Banking Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of GBX 98.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Charlie Nunn bought 217,494 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 84 per share, with a total value of £182,694.96. Also, insider William Chalmers purchased 138,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 84 per share, for a total transaction of £116,527.32. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Up 1.8%

The firm has a market capitalization of £57.36 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of GBX 87.79 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 82.04.

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported GBX 1 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 16.66% and a return on equity of 11.22%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 7.3199528 EPS for the current fiscal 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.