Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) Upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Up 3.9 %

Lloyds Banking Group stock opened at $3.83 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $3.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.97. Lloyds Banking Group has a twelve month low of $2.38 and a twelve month high of $3.90. The company has a market cap of $58.10 billion, a PE ratio of 11.59 and a beta of 1.31.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 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 the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.1035 per share. 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 of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.61%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lloyds Banking Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LYG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 buying an additional 2,456,914 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,035,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 36.6% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 757,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,363,000 after buying an additional 202,862 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,055,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,293,000 after buying an additional 180,178 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,703,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,316,000 after buying an additional 627,592 shares during the period. 2.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.