Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as GBX 105.25 and last traded at GBX 105.25, with a volume of 111480188 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 103.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on LLOY. Shore Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a GBX 84 price objective on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 100 to GBX 110 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 105 target price on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 100 to GBX 120 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a GBX 93 price objective on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of GBX 104.33.

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Down 1.1%

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 97.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 88.28. The company has a market cap of £61.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.23.

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The financial services provider reported GBX 6.30 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 7.3199528 EPS 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.