Insider Selling: Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) Insider Sells 197,279 Shares of Stock

Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) insider António Simões sold 197,279 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 244 ($3.15), for a total value of £481,360.76 ($621,591.89).

Legal & General Group Stock Up 0.6 %

LON:LGEN opened at GBX 243.60 ($3.15) on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 155.18, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of £14.28 billion, a PE ratio of 44.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of GBX 239.72 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 229.96. Legal & General Group Plc has a 1-year low of GBX 211.40 ($2.73) and a 1-year high of GBX 266.20 ($3.44).

Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The financial services provider reported GBX 2.89 ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Legal & General Group had a net margin of 0.67% and a return on equity of 7.79%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Legal & General Group Plc will post 24.2376446 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Legal & General Group declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, March 12th that permits the company to repurchase 0 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Legal & General Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a GBX 15.36 ($0.20) dividend. This is a boost from Legal & General Group’s previous dividend of $6.00. This represents a dividend yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. Legal & General Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 387.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LGEN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “top pick” rating on shares of Legal & General Group in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 265 ($3.42) price objective on shares of Legal & General Group in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Legal & General Group from GBX 290 ($3.74) to GBX 295 ($3.81) and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 267 ($3.45).

Legal & General Group Company Profile

Legal & General Group Plc provides various insurance products and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates in Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Legal & General Capital (LGC), and Retail segments.