Are Lloyds shares worth buying now?

• Lloyds (LON: LLOY) share price closed over 4% lower on Monday (20 September 2021)
• The stock’s decline reflected the overall market’s bearishness, which also dragged down the FTSE 100 by over 100 points
• Analysts have a consensus rating of ‘buy’ on LLOY shares
• Feeling bullish or bearish about Lloyds shares? Open an account with us to go long or short on the stock today.

Lloyds stock price: what’s the latest ?

Lloyds Banking Group shares fell some 4.2% on Monday, following in the footsteps of the FTSE 100 index on what some have termed as ‘Panic Monday’.

The Footsie retreated as much as 2% after mining and Asia-focused stocks were dragged down by concerns over rising gas prices and Chinese developer Evergrande’s emerging debt problems.

Last week, shares of the UK’s third largest bank hit a one-month peak of 45.24 pence, as UK authorities weigh the possibility of relaxing ‘ring-fencing’ banking rules that force banks to separate their retail banking divisions from the rest of their business.

The rules were introduced in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis as a way of protecting customers’ assets should a bank run into cash flow issues.

LLOY’s share price is up by nearly 25% year-to-date, hitting a peak of 50p a share in June 2021.

How do analysts view LLOY?

Across the board, the stock has a consensus rating of ‘buy’ and price target of 51.33p, according to the latest analyst data published by MarketBeat.

The price target equates to a potential 19% upside from LLOY’s last traded price of 43.14p.

Last week, the Lloyds stock received a ‘buy’ rating and price target upgrade to 60p (from 57p) from Deutsche Bank, on the expectation for improved performance under new chief executive Charlie Nunn.

‘We expect strong deposit growth; rebounding consumer credit; and rising interest rates to lead to substantial growth in UK net interest income in the next two years which is not captured in consensus nor current valuations,’ analyst Robert Noble said in a note.

‘We are positive on domestic exposure but our preference is Lloyds where we are 15% above consensus and it trades at 6.6 times 2023E P/E with 10% yield,’ he added.

Meanwhile, Barclays had kept an ‘overweight’ call and 62p price target in their latest thesis, as analysts saw ‘significant value’ in LLOY shares.

‘We see Lloyds as best placed to deliver double-digit RoTE (return on tangible equity), consensus-beating earnings, whilst also benefitting from likely write-backs,’ Barclays analysts noted.

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