Educational information, not financial advice or a personal recommendation. Not regulated by the FCA. Do your own research. Capital at risk.
Sterling AlmanacExploreStart hereFind your fitGlossaryCompareMy ListMy PieEarnings calendarSupport

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L)

Financial Services Dividend payer

Britain's biggest purely domestic retail bank - a giant mortgage machine whose fortunes rise and fall with UK house prices and Bank of England rates.

£1.15

Is Lloyds Banking Group a good stock for a UK beginner?

The honest version: Britain's biggest purely domestic retail bank - a giant mortgage machine whose fortunes rise and fall with UK house prices and Bank of England rates.

No rating · no target price · nothing for sale here
Price+92.5%
52-week range+48% past year
£1.15
Low £0.74High £1.18
Where today's price sits versus its past year - context, not a signal.
If you had put £1,000 into Lloyds Banking Group
£1,925+93%

Over about 2 years to 2026-07-31. This is the share price only - reinvesting the dividends would add to it. Past performance is not a guide to the future, and it could just as easily have fallen.

Market cap: The company's total value on the stock market - share price times the number of shares. Big = 'large-cap', small = 'small-cap'.
£66.58B
Avg volume: How many shares change hands on a typical day. Higher means it's easy to buy or exit without moving the price.
162.03M
Day range: The lowest and highest price the shares traded at during the latest day.
£1.14 – £1.18
52-week range: The lowest and highest the shares have traded over the past year - a sense of how wide the swings have been.
£0.74 – £1.18
P/E ratio: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth.
14.3
Dividend yield: The yearly dividend as a percentage of the share price - roughly the income you'd earn from dividends alone.
3.5%
Beta: How bumpy the share price is versus the whole market. Above 1 swings more than the market; below 1 is calmer. It's about the ride, not whether it goes up or down.
0.91
How bumpy is it?Beta: How bumpy the share price is versus the whole market. Above 1 swings more than the market; below 1 is calmer. It's about the ride, not whether it goes up or down. 0.91
Calm
Wild
Roughly in step with the market

Based on beta - how much the price swings versus the whole market. Bumpier isn't bad; it just means a rougher ride, which matters more the sooner you might need the money.

Why has it been moving?▲ +3% past week · ▲ +48% past year

Prices move on results, news and the mood of the whole market - no single headline explains a day, and a quiet week is usually just noise, not a signal.

The bull case

Lloyds keeps its UK market-leading mortgage and current-account franchise while costs stay controlled

The bear case

structural pressure on UK bank margins from competition or a weak housing market persists for years

What does Lloyds Banking Group do?

Lloyds owns Halifax and Bank of Scotland as well as its own brand, making it one of the biggest mortgage lenders in Britain. Because almost everything it does happens inside the UK, its profits are tied to UK interest rates, house prices and how much people are borrowing - not global markets. Its trailing P/E: Price-to-earnings: the share price divided by yearly profit per share. Lower can mean cheaper; higher often means investors expect fast growth. of 14.0 (share price versus last year's earnings) drops to a forward P/E: Like P/E, but using analysts' forecast of NEXT year's profit instead of last year's. A much lower forward figure implies profits are expected to jump. of 9.3 (versus expected earnings), which is the market betting earnings will rise materially over the next year. The one thing worth watching -> a price-to-book: The share price versus the company's net assets per share (its book value). Under 1 can look cheap, though it varies a lot by industry. ratio just above 1.0 means the shares sit close to the accounting value of the bank's net assets.

VQGMI
Factor profile

On our factor screen it looks strongest on momentum and growth, and weakest on quality.

Value: How cheap the stock looks versus profits, sales and assets (higher = cheaper). 56Quality: How profitable and financially healthy the company is (higher = stronger). 44Growth: How fast revenue and earnings are growing (higher = faster). 68Momentum: How the share price has been trending recently (higher = stronger recent run). 73Income: The dividend income on offer and how sustainable it looks (higher = more/steadier). 66
Quick checks
What's strong
  • Momentum screens high (73/100)
  • Dominant UK retail and mortgage franchise with well-known brands (Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland)
  • Forward P/E of 9.3 versus trailing 14.0 implies analysts expect earnings to grow
  • Double-digit return on equity (10.8%) is solid for a UK retail bank
What to watch
  • A UK recession or house-price fall would likely raise bad-debt charges
  • Bank of England rate cuts could compress net interest margins
  • Regulatory or conduct-related costs (a recurring theme for UK retail banks) could reduce distributable profit

What do Lloyds Banking Group's numbers mean?

P/E (trailing) vs forward
14.0 now, 9.3 forward
The forward figure is lower because analysts expect earnings per share to increase; a falling P/E from trailing to forward reflects expected profit growth rather than a cheaper share price.
Price-to-book
1.36
The shares trade at roughly 1.36 times the accounting value of Lloyds' net assets, a modest premium that is typical for a bank generating a double-digit return on equity.
Return on equity
10.8%
For every £100 of shareholder equity, the bank generated about £10.80 of net profit over the period measured, a standard profitability yardstick for banks.
Dividend yield
3.3%
Based on the current share price, dividends paid over a year would equal about 3.3% of the price, before tax and with no guarantee future payouts match past ones.
Factor scores (V/Q/G/M/I)
V64 Q40 G69 M80 I64
Percentile-style scores (0-100) the tool uses to rank Value, Quality, Growth, Momentum and a fifth composite factor against other stocks; the Momentum score of 80 reflects recent price trend, not a forecast.

How much money does Lloyds Banking Group make?

Revenue and profit by quarter, and how much of each sale turns into profit.

RevenueNet income
£0£1.44B£2.89B£4.33B£5.78BQ2 25Q3 25Q4 25Q1 26Q2 26
Gross margin
0.0%
Net margin
26.4%
Return on equity
11.3%

Does Lloyds Banking Group pay a dividend?

Yes - Lloyds Banking Group currently pays a dividend of about 3.5% a year (the yearly payout as a share of the price). A dividend is a slice of profit handed to shareholders; the yield moves as the price moves, and a company can cut or stop it.

More in Financial Services

AflacAllstateTravelersAssurantBank of Georgia GroupSchrodersM&GIG Group
Appears in
Big UK shares, explainedShares beginners actually recogniseBank & finance shares, explainedLloyds vs Barclays

What are the scenarios for Lloyds Banking Group?

An illustrative range for the year ahead, with the assumption behind each case — not a prediction or a price target.

◀ lowerhigher ▶todayBull▲ UpsideBase• In-lineBear▼ Downside
Bull
shares move modestly higher, plausibly mid-to-high single-digit percentage termsUK interest rates hold steady and mortgage margins stay firm through the next results update
Base
shares broadly track the wider UK bank sector, a narrow single-digit range either wayno major surprise in UK rate policy or bad-debt charges
Bear
shares fall by a mid-single-digit to low-double-digit percentagea weaker UK economic data run or a larger-than-expected bad-debt provision at the next update

What are the pros and cons of Lloyds Banking Group?

4bull points
7bear points

How many points the write-up makes each way — a balance check, not a score or verdict.

The bull case4
  • Dominant UK retail and mortgage franchise with well-known brands (Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland)
  • Forward P/E of 9.3 versus trailing 14.0 implies analysts expect earnings to grow
  • Double-digit return on equity (10.8%) is solid for a UK retail bank
  • Dividend yield of 3.3% provides an income component
The catch3
  • Almost entirely dependent on the UK economy, offering no geographic diversification
  • Net margin (26.5%) and ROE (10.8%) are respectable but not exceptional versus some banking peers in this list
  • Quality score of 40 is the lowest of its five factor scores, alongside a much higher Momentum score of 80
Key risks4
  • A UK recession or house-price fall would likely raise bad-debt charges
  • Bank of England rate cuts could compress net interest margins
  • Regulatory or conduct-related costs (a recurring theme for UK retail banks) could reduce distributable profit
  • Heavy reliance on UK mortgage lending concentrates risk in one market
What would flip the thesis

The write-up's own warning lights — if these start happening, the case above changes.

Confidence: medium · data: GBP · flags: none · Charts by TradingView Lightweight Charts™
Found this useful? The Almanac is free and ad-free - a coffee keeps it that way.Support →

Built from public filings & market prices, checked for an education-only tone, and never a price target. How we make these →

Figures as of 2026-08-01. Prices may be delayed and numbers can go stale - always double-check before acting.