Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Takes Position in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 212,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $579,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brentview Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lloyds Banking Group during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LYG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Lloyds Banking Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Lloyds Banking Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $2.75.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

Lloyds Banking Group stock opened at $3.31 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $3.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.09. The company has a market cap of $50.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.02 and a beta of 0.95. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a 1-year low of $2.42 and a 1-year high of $3.91.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.1035 per share. This represents a dividend 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 (DPR) is presently 60.61%.

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.