American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stake in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) by 17.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,472,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 804,035 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $14,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 234.3% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 11,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 7,783 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Lloyds Banking Group during the fourth quarter worth $256,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 18,625,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,528,000 after purchasing an additional 439,009 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 223,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 13,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. BNP Paribas raised Lloyds Banking Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 5th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets assumed coverage on Lloyds Banking Group in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.38.

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of LYG opened at $3.11 on Friday. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a fifty-two week low of $1.88 and a fifty-two week high of $3.14. The company has a market capitalization of $48.61 billion, a PE ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $3.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $9.55 billion for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 10.34% and a net margin of 12.40%. As a group, analysts forecast that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were issued a $0.0546 dividend. This represents a yield of 4.4%. This is an increase from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. Lloyds Banking Group’s payout ratio is presently 26.32%.

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.