Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) Short Interest Up 56.9% in February

Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 24,690,000 shares, a growth of 56.9% from the February 13th total of 15,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 23,320,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crux Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Brentview Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LYG shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.75.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Up 2.9 %

LYG traded up $0.11 during trading on Friday, reaching $3.69. The stock had a trading volume of 14,824,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,637,360. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 1.25. Lloyds Banking Group has a 1-year low of $2.42 and a 1-year high of $3.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $3.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.00.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.46 billion during 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Increases Dividend

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

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.