Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) Stock Rating Lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) was downgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports.

Separately, Morgan Stanley upgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $2.75.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

Shares of Lloyds Banking Group stock opened at $3.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $55.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 1.25. Lloyds Banking Group has a 52-week low of $2.42 and a 52-week high of $3.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.00.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last announced 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of LYG. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 225.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,098,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,309,000 after buying an additional 4,914,680 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,226,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,604,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,444,000 after buying an additional 4,021,039 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 26,669,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,540,000 after buying an additional 2,713,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 14.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,280,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,154,000 after buying an additional 2,472,263 shares during the last quarter. 2.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.