Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) Insider Clare Bousfield Acquires 20,369 Shares

Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) insider Clare Bousfield purchased 20,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 244 ($3.15) per share, for a total transaction of £49,700.36 ($64,262.17).

Legal & General Group Price Performance

Shares of LON:LGEN traded down GBX 1.86 ($0.02) during midday trading on Monday, hitting GBX 242.08 ($3.13). The company had a trading volume of 18,987,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,983,842. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is GBX 241.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 230.64. The stock has a market cap of £14.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 155.18, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.50. Legal & General Group Plc has a twelve month low of GBX 211.40 ($2.73) and a twelve month high of GBX 266.20 ($3.44).

Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The financial services provider reported GBX 2.89 ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Legal & General Group had a return on equity of 7.79% and a net margin of 0.67%. On average, research analysts predict that Legal & General Group Plc will post 24.2376446 earnings per share for the current year.

Legal & General Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a GBX 15.36 ($0.20) dividend. This represents a yield of 6.18%. This is a positive change from Legal & General Group’s previous dividend of $6.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. Legal & General Group’s payout ratio is presently 387.68%.

Legal & General Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback 0 shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on LGEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Legal & General Group from GBX 290 ($3.75) to GBX 295 ($3.81) and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “top pick” rating on shares of Legal & General Group in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Berenberg Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 265 ($3.43) target price on shares of Legal & General Group in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Legal & General Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 267 ($3.45).

Legal & General Group Company Profile

Legal & General Group Plc provides various insurance products and services in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates in Legal & General Retirement Institutional (LGRI), Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), Legal & General Capital (LGC), and Retail segments.