There’s a lot to love about Lloyds‘ (LSE: LLOY) shares these days. Of course, that wasn’t always the case.
After the financial crisis in 2008, there was an awful lot to hate. They crashed to a low of 28p in February 2009, and stayed low. More than a decade later, in 2020, they were even lower at 26p. And investors weren’t getting much dividend income either. It’s a different story today.
Lloyds’ share price is up 120% in the last five years. And while momentum’s slowed, it’s still up 35% in the last 12 months.
Should you consider this FTSE 100 stock?
Better still, Lloyds is now a dividend income machine again. Which means it doesn’t just offer generous shareholder payouts, but aims to increase them each year. It’s been doing so at a pretty decent lick, as this table shows:
| Total dividend per share | % increase | |
| 2025 | 3.65p | 15.14% |
| 2024 | 3.17p | 14.86% |
| 2023 | 2.76p | 15.00% |
| 2022 | 2.40p | 20.00% |
| 2021 | 2.00p | 250.88% |
Ignore that massive 250% increase in 2021. That was the board playing catch-up following two painful dividend cuts during the pandemic. But it’s also a reminder that dividends are never guaranteed, companies need to generate enough cash to fund them.
Today, the trailing yield is a bit so-so at 3.65%, but that’s down to the rising share price. The stock’s forecast to pay income of 4.17% this year, rising to 4.93% in 2027. The board has also found enough cash to execute a £1.75bn share buyback across 2026.
But I’ll admit it, the yield was a lot juicier when I added the bank to my Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) in June 2023. Three years ago, it was above 5%. It was cheaper too, with a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of around six. Today, the trailing P/E is 14.5 (although just 10.2 on a forward basis).
Back in 2023, the price-to-book ratio was down to just 0.4. Now it’s 1.2. The shares aren’t the bargain they were, and I suspect the recent growth trajectory is likely to slow. Especially given current concerns about the UK economy. The renewed cost-of-living crisis could hit demand for mortgages and drive up bad debts, for starters. The big FTSE 100 banks also face stiff competition from the new breed of smaller challenges.
How good are those dividends?
Back in 2023, I bought 9,249 shares at an average price of 46.6p. Today, I own 10,487 shares. The additional 1,228 didn’t cost me a penny. I acquired them by purely by reinvesting Lloyds’ dividends.
It’s forecast to pay a total dividend per share of at least 3.8p in 2026. That would give me income of £399. Which at today’s share price of 102.8p would buy me another 385 shares or so. That would lift my total holding to 10,872 shares. The forecast dividend for 2027 is 4.7p per share. If correct, I’d be looking at income of £511.
These numbers show how the rewards from investing in dividend-paying stocks compounds and grows over time. The earlier investors get started, the more they benefit. Lloyds isn’t the bargain it was, but I still think it’s worth considering today.
