Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company.

LYG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lloyds Banking Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD purchased a new position in Lloyds Banking Group in the third quarter valued at about $285,004,000. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the third quarter worth about $1,386,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 0.8% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 149,958,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $680,811,000 after buying an additional 1,129,641 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,079,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,062,000 after buying an additional 211,920 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 311.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 227,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after buying an additional 172,422 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LYG opened at $5.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $5.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.24. The stock has a market cap of $79.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.88. Lloyds Banking Group has a one year low of $3.74 and a one year high of $6.34.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The financial services provider reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 25.11% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

Lloyds Banking Group plc is a UK-based banking and financial services company that provides a broad range of retail, commercial and insurance products. Its principal consumer-facing brands include Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, through which it offers current accounts, savings, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans. The group also delivers services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and larger corporate clients, supplying business accounts, lending, payments and cash-management solutions.

In addition to core banking, Lloyds operates a significant wealth and insurance arm under the Scottish Widows brand, offering life insurance, pensions, investment and retirement planning products.