Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG)

Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 5,694 call options on the company. This is an increase of 602% compared to the average volume of 811 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on LYG. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Lloyds Banking Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Lloyds Banking Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Lloyds Banking Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Lloyds Banking Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:LYG traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $5.32. The company had a trading volume of 20,130,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,010,783. Lloyds Banking Group has a one year low of $3.27 and a one year high of $6.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $5.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.01. The firm has a market cap of $78.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.67, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.86.

Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.52 billion. Lloyds Banking Group had a return on equity of 10.06% and a net margin of 24.30%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lloyds Banking Group will post 0.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lloyds Banking Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a $0.134 dividend. This represents a yield of 447.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. Lloyds Banking Group’s payout ratio is currently 30.95%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth about $93,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lloyds Banking Group during the 4th quarter worth $281,000. Van Diest Capital LLC purchased a new position in Lloyds Banking Group in the fourth quarter worth $142,000. Compound Planning Inc. raised its position in Lloyds Banking Group by 34.6% during the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 498,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,643,000 after purchasing an additional 128,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Lloyds Banking Group by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 283,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,501,000 after purchasing an additional 38,289 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 2.15% of the company’s stock.

Lloyds Banking Group Company Profile

Lloyds Banking Group plc is a UK-based banking and financial services company that provides a broad range of retail, commercial and insurance products. Its principal consumer-facing brands include Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland, through which it offers current accounts, savings, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans. The group also delivers services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and larger corporate clients, supplying business accounts, lending, payments and cash-management solutions.

In addition to core banking, Lloyds operates a significant wealth and insurance arm under the Scottish Widows brand, offering life insurance, pensions, investment and retirement planning products.