Lloyds Banking Group PLC (GB:LLOY) is one of the top four financial institutions in the UK. The bank provides various banking and other services to around 30 million customers, mainly in the UK.
With rising inflation and continued rate hikes by the Bank of England, Lloyds and its peers have posted record profits in 2022. The strong performance was also reflected in their share prices. Lloyds shares have generated a return of more than 80% in the last three years.
Moving forward, analysts are still bullish on the stock and predict around 35% potential upside from the current level. Looking at the inflation rate of 10.1% for March raises the chances for another rate hike. This further makes a strong investment case for UK banks.
Peeking into the technical analysis, Lloyds is a Strong Buy based on the summary signal in the time frame of 1 week. This includes 17 bullish, four neutral, and one bearish signal combining moving averages and oscillators. The moving average data points suggest a Strong Buy action, and the oscillators indicate a Buy.
Lloyds Share Price Forecast
According to analysts on TipRanks, the stock still has more potential and could be a good investment option. Overall, LLOY stock has a Moderate Buy rating based on seven Buy vs. four Hold recommendations.
The average price prediction for a 12-month period is 66.3p, which implies a 35% growth from the current price.
Seven days ago, RBC Capital analyst Benjamin Toms rerated the stock as a Buy and forecasted more than 40% growth in the share price. Credit Suisse also predicts around 43% upside potential for the stock.
Is Glencore PLC a Good Stock to Buy?
Another Strong Buy opportunity for the long term is the mining company Glencore PLC (GB:GLEN). In the long term of three years, the stock has generated a huge return of 280% for its shareholders. However, volatile commodity prices and lower demand from China pulled the share price down in the last year.
Analysts believe the volatility might continue for quite some time, but the long-term prospects for the stock are solid.
GLEN stock has a Strong Buy rating on TipRanks with all 12 Buy recommendations. The average price target of 605.58p is 23% higher than the current price level.
The recent actions on the stock by analysts over the last 15 days give further reassurance about the stock’s bright future.
Conclusion
Both LLOY and GLEN are leading companies in their respective areas. Analysts believe their stocks have further growth potential and could be good options for the long term.
