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

Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research 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 brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is GBX 60.60 ($0.78).

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LLOY. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 61 ($0.79) to GBX 71 ($0.92) and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Shore Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider William Chalmers purchased 128,804 shares of Lloyds Banking Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 54 ($0.70) per share, for a total transaction of £69,554.16 ($89,909.72). Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Lloyds Banking Group stock opened at GBX 70.04 ($0.91) on Monday. The firm has a market cap of £42.47 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.23. Lloyds Banking Group has a 12-month low of GBX 48.80 ($0.63) and a 12-month high of GBX 74.46 ($0.96). The company’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 63.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 58.96.

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported GBX 6.30 ($0.08) 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group will post 7.3199528 earnings per share 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.