Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as GBX 275.70 and last traded at GBX 275.10, with a volume of 61551438 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at GBX 272.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on LGEN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Legal & General Group from GBX 200 to GBX 210 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Legal & General Group from GBX 249 to GBX 263 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Legal & General Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of GBX 258.40.

Legal & General Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 155.18, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market cap of £15.52 billion, a PE ratio of 61.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 263.19 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 250.40.

Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, December 15th. The financial services provider reported GBX 2.89 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%. Research analysts forecast that Legal & General Group Plc will post 24.2376446 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Legal & General Group

In related news, insider John Kingman purchased 620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 265 per share, with a total value of £1,643. Also, insider Ric Lewis acquired 856 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 265 per share, for a total transaction of £2,268.40. Insiders have bought 10,913 shares of company stock worth $2,797,634 in the last 90 days. 0.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Legal & General Group

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. The LGRI segment offers annuity contracts with guaranteed income for a specified time; and longevity insurance products. The LGIM segment offers index fund management; active fixed income funds and liquidity funds; active equity management; solution and liability driven investment; multi-asset funds; corporate pension scheme solutions; and real assets.