HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 155,159 Shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 750,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 155,159 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $2,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 122,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 75,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 3,420 shares in the last quarter. Brio Consultants LLC increased its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Brio Consultants LLC now owns 16,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 3,880 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 60,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 4,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 157,627 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,000 after buying an additional 4,553 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Price Performance

NYSE:LYG opened at $3.74 on Friday. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a one year low of $2.42 and a one year high of $3.91. The company has a market cap of $56.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.32 and a beta of 1.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $3.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.03.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 8.46%. The company had revenue of $9.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.76 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. This represents a dividend yield of 4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. Lloyds Banking Group’s payout ratio is currently 60.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.