Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) shares are approaching a three-year high in sync with the FTSE 100 hitting its own all-time high on Thursday.
The British banking giant added another 1% in today’s session, bringing the per-share price up to 54.17p.
Lloyds briefly touched 55p in January 2022 before ceding ground during the year’s stock market downturn.
Before the pandemic it had known much higher heights, having started 2020 above 63p and skirted near 90p in 2015, having dropped from regular haunts above 250p in the years before the 2007 credit crunch, and above 450p in the 1990s.
Financial services shares have been on a roll in 2023, with HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) and Santander breaking above three-year highs and Natwest Group PLC hitting five-year highs.
Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC) is the outlier, having yet to manage to break above the 215.5p high achieved in January 2022.
Lloyds recently bagged an upgrade from equities analysts at Barclays despite rivals getting a colder reception.
Analysts there suggest Lloyds is “relatively better placed” to cope with the Bank of England’s quantitative tightening cycle due to the bank having a greater reliance on retail savings over commercial accounts.
Lloyds was upgraded to an ‘overweight’ rating from ‘equal weight’, with a new price target of 75p, up from 55p, versus a close price of 53.3p at the end of last week.