Citigroup Inc. Sells 44,479 Shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

Citigroup Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG – Get Rating) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 931,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 44,479 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $2,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 4,100 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 81,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $197,000 after purchasing an additional 5,124 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 111,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 5,363 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 68,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 5,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 103,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 6,127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on LYG. Credit Suisse Group reduced their target price on shares of Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 70 ($0.87) to GBX 69 ($0.86) in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on shares of Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 55 ($0.68) to GBX 58 ($0.72) in a research report on Friday, February 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Lloyds Banking Group from GBX 61 ($0.76) to GBX 56 ($0.70) in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lloyds Banking Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.29.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Performance

Shares of LYG stock opened at $2.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $36.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $2.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $2.33. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a 52 week low of $1.70 and a 52 week high of $2.63.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $14.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.68 billion. Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 21.31% and a return on equity of 11.52%. On average, analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.076 per share. This is an increase from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.04. This represents a yield of 5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.50%.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

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Lloyds Banking Group Plc is a financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following segments: Retail, Commercial Banking, Insurance and Wealth, and Other. The Retail segment offers broad range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance and unsecured consumer lending to personal, and small business customers.