Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is GBX 60.60 ($0.78).

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LLOY shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 61 ($0.79) to GBX 71 ($0.92) and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 55 ($0.71) to GBX 62 ($0.80) and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider William Chalmers acquired 128,804 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 54 ($0.70) per share, for a total transaction of £69,554.16 ($89,909.72). 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

Shares of Lloyds Banking Group stock opened at GBX 70.04 ($0.91) on Monday. Lloyds Banking Group has a 1 year low of GBX 48.80 ($0.63) and a 1 year high of GBX 74.46 ($0.96). The company has a market capitalization of £42.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 63.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 58.96.

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported GBX 6.30 ($0.08) earnings per share 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 anticipate that Lloyds Banking Group will post 7.3199528 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

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.