Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Purchases 80,335 Shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC lifted its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group plc (NYSE:LYG) by 396.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 100,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 80,335 shares during the period. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC’s holdings in Lloyds Banking Group were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Lloyds Banking Group by 14.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,280,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,472,263 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 buying an additional 2,456,914 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 5,601,459 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,236,000 after buying an additional 150,178 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Lloyds Banking Group during the fourth quarter worth about $11,226,000. Finally, Bard Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Lloyds Banking Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,426,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,600,000 after buying an additional 13,500 shares during the last quarter. 2.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Up 1.5 %

LYG opened at $3.75 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $3.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.02. Lloyds Banking Group plc has a twelve month low of $2.42 and a twelve month high of $3.91.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.08 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $9.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.76 billion. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 8.46% and a net margin of 11.45%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lloyds Banking Group plc will post 0.27 earnings per share 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $0.1035 dividend. This is a positive change from Lloyds Banking Group’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.05. This represents a dividend yield of 4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. Lloyds Banking Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.