Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) Stake Lowered by Angeles Investment Advisors LLC

Angeles Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) by 25.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,911 shares during the period. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $31,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $11,226,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,280,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,154,000 after acquiring an additional 2,472,263 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 58.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,659,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,778,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,914 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Lloyds Banking Group by 58.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,703,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,316,000 after purchasing an additional 627,592 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 3,120.8% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 640,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 620,325 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LYG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley raised Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2.75.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

Lloyds Banking Group stock opened at $3.82 on Tuesday. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a 12-month low of $2.42 and a 12-month high of $3.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.95 billion, a PE ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.03.

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

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.1035 dividend. This represents a yield of 4%. This is an increase 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 is presently 60.61%.

About Lloyds Banking Group

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.