Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 573.71.

LGEN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Legal & General Group to an “underperform” rating and set a GBX 185 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Legal & General Group from GBX 205 to GBX 220 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating and set a GBX 308 price objective on shares of Legal & General Group in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Legal & General Group from GBX 2,490 to GBX 2,510 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th.

Legal & General Group Stock Up 1.0%

LGEN opened at GBX 289.30 on Thursday. Legal & General Group has a 12 month low of GBX 217.20 and a 12 month high of GBX 302.30. The company has a market cap of £15.88 billion, a PE ratio of 29.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 59.08, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1,100.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of GBX 268.56 and a 200 day moving average of GBX 262.79.

Legal & General Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, March 11th that permits the company to repurchase 0 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Laura Wade-Gery acquired 988 shares of Legal & General Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 253 per share, with a total value of £2,499.64. Also, insider Mark Jordy acquired 3,683 shares of Legal & General Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 287 per share, with a total value of £10,570.21. Insiders purchased 8,441 shares of company stock valued at $2,276,812 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Legal & General Group Company Profile

Legal & General Group Plc provides various insurance products and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates in Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Legal & General Capital (LGC), and Retail segments. The LGRI segment offers annuity contracts with guaranteed income for a specified time; and longevity insurance products. The LGIM segment offers index fund management; active fixed income funds and liquidity funds; active equity management; solution and liability driven investment; multi-asset funds; corporate pension scheme solutions; and real assets.