Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 64.84 ($0.82) and last traded at GBX 64.70 ($0.81), with a volume of 838876688 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 62.84 ($0.79).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on LLOY shares. Shore Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a GBX 60 ($0.76) target price on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Lloyds Banking Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of GBX 56 ($0.70).

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is GBX 58.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 57.47. The company has a market cap of £40.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.43, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.23.

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 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 plc will post 7.3199528 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider William Chalmers acquired 128,804 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 54 ($0.68) per share, with a total value of £69,554.16 ($87,522.54). 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.