May Hill Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 83,483 Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

May Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 83,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Summit Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group in the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Lloyds Banking Group by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 26,669,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,540,000 after purchasing an additional 2,713,559 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lloyds Banking Group during the 4th quarter worth $5,440,000. Finally, Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of LYG stock opened at $3.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $57.80 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.07. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a 52 week low of $2.42 and a 52 week high of $3.91.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.03). Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 11.45%. The company had revenue of $9.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.76 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.1035 per share. This represents a yield of 4%. This is a positive change from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on LYG. Hsbc Global Res raised Lloyds Banking Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. HSBC upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lloyds Banking Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2.75.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

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.