Savvy Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG)

Savvy Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG) by 16.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,080 shares during the quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $82,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,404,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,620,000 after purchasing an additional 453,326 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,604,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,444,000 after purchasing an additional 4,021,039 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,492,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,083,000 after purchasing an additional 863,347 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 225.0% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,098,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,309,000 after purchasing an additional 4,914,680 shares during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 4,831,997 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,458,000 after purchasing an additional 18,767 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on LYG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of LYG opened at $4.40 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $4.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Lloyds Banking Group PLC has a 1-year low of $2.56 and a 1-year high of $4.44.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.86 billion. Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 17.51% and a return on equity of 9.28%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lloyds Banking Group PLC will post 0.27 EPS for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.0655 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 370.0%. Lloyds Banking Group’s payout ratio is presently 32.50%.

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.