Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $3.06 Million Holdings in Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,126,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 70,838 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $3,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,280,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,472,263 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 58.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,659,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,778,000 after purchasing an additional 2,456,914 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Lloyds Banking Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,426,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,600,000 after buying an additional 13,500 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,372,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,454,000 after buying an additional 411,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 58.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,703,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,316,000 after acquiring an additional 627,592 shares during the period. 2.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LYG. Morgan Stanley upgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $2.75.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Performance

NYSE:LYG opened at $3.89 on Friday. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a fifty-two week low of $2.42 and a fifty-two week high of $3.91. The company has a market cap of $59.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $3.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.05.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.76 billion. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 11.45%. Research analysts predict that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.1035 dividend. This represents a yield of 4%. This is a boost from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.61%.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

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.