Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Lloyds Banking Group plc (LON:LLOY)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 64.84 ($0.82) and last traded at GBX 64.70 ($0.82), with a volume of 838876688 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 62.84 ($0.79).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Shore Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of GBX 56 ($0.71).

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of £40.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 58.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 57.59.

Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported GBX 6.30 ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 16.66% and a return on equity of 11.22%. On average, analysts anticipate that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 7.3199528 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider William Chalmers bought 128,804 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 54 ($0.68) per share, with a total value of £69,554.16 ($87,876.39). Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

We are the largest UK retail and commercial financial services provider with over 25 million customers and a presence in nearly every community.

The Group’s main business activities are retail and commercial banking, general insurance and long-term savings, provided through the largest branch network and digital bank in the UK, with well recognised brands including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows.

Our shares are quoted on the London and New York stock exchanges and we are one of the largest companies in the FTSE 100 index.