Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Legal & General Group Plc (LON:LGEN) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as GBX 398.19 and last traded at GBX 297.70, with a volume of 16,466,510 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 300.85.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LGEN. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and issued a GBX 185 price target on shares of Legal & General Group in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Peel Hunt reiterated an “add” rating and issued a GBX 320 price objective on shares of Legal & General Group in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Citigroup downgraded Legal & General Group to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from GBX 251 to GBX 245 in a report on Monday, August 10th. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on Legal & General Group from GBX 353 to GBX 385 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “underperform” rating and set a GBX 270 target price on shares of Legal & General Group in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of GBX 276.86.

Legal & General Group Trading Down 0.9%

The company has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 293.19 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 282.86. The firm has a market cap of £16.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.81.

Legal & General Group (LON:LGEN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported GBX 8.01 EPS for the quarter. Legal & General Group had a return on equity of 27.28% and a net margin of 0.91%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Legal & General Group Plc will post 24.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Legal & General Group

In other news, insider Mark Jordy purchased 3,671 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 288 per share, with a total value of £10,572.48. Insiders acquired a total of 11,042 shares of company stock valued at $3,240,907 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

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.