Lloyds Banking Group plc (LYG) To Go Ex-Dividend on August 5th

Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) declared a semi-annual dividend on Thursday, July 25th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.0546 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, September 20th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 5th. This is an increase from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05.

Lloyds Banking Group has a payout ratio of 51.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lloyds Banking Group to earn $0.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.19 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.0%.

Lloyds Banking Group Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE LYG opened at $3.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $2.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.56. Lloyds Banking Group has a 52-week low of $1.88 and a 52-week high of $3.11. The company has a market cap of $48.29 billion, a PE ratio of 8.13 and a beta of 1.35.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter. Lloyds Banking Group had a net margin of 12.40% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The firm had revenue of $14.35 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Thursday, May 9th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Lloyds Banking Group from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a report on Thursday, April 25th. They set a “hold” rating and a $2.75 target price for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Lloyds Banking Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lloyds Banking Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.25.

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.