Lloyds(LSE: LLOY) shares could hit 100p within six monthsas four key catalysts work together to drive the companys share price higher.
Government sell-off
First off, as the government sells off its remaining stake in the lender, Lloyds shares should head higher as liquidity increases, a large seller leaves the market and government influence over the bank dissipates. A retail share placing to offload a significant chunk of the governments remaining stake is expected at some point during the next few months.
Secondly, Lloyds should benefit from the UKsimproving economy. Not only will economic growth spur demand for lending but it will also push the Bank of England to begin raising interest rates.
And a higher interest rate would be great news for Lloyds as the banksnet interest margin islinked to the Bank of Englands base rate.
Interest margin
Simply put,the net interest margin is a measure of the difference between the interest income generated by banks and the amount of interest paid out to borrowers, relative to the amount of their interest-earning assets.As a result, the wider the net interest margin, the more interest income thats generated by banks.
With interest rates set to head higher, Lloyds net interest margin will grow, which will, in turn, boost the banks net income and City estimates for growth. An improved outlook is the third catalyst that could drive Lloyds shares higher. If City analysts raise theirestimates for the banks growth, it should attractgrowthinvestors, whose buying will push up Lloyds share price.
The fourth and final catalyst that could help drive Lloyds sharesup to100p is the prospect of a cash return.
Cash return
City analystsbelieve that Lloyds could return 20bn to 25bn to shareholders over the next three years. However, the bank may look to accelerate this plan ahead of the introduction of the new dividend tax rules that are set to come into force during April 2016.
From nextAprilthe dividend tax credit will be abolished and will be replaced with adividend tax allowance of 5,000 per year. Any dividends above the new 5,000 tax-free limit will be taxed.Basic-rate tax payers will pay 7.5% on dividends over the 5,000 limit. Higher-rate tax payers will pay 32.5%, and additional-rate taxpayers will pay 38.06%.
And, as Lloyds has the largest number of retail investors of any FTSE 100 company, management could seek to help investors work their way around these new tax rules by issuing a special payout this year.
A word of warning
Having said all of the above, theres a chance that Lloyds shares could fall further before they push higher as it emerged this week that theSerious Fraud Office is giving active consideration to a request from MPs to investigate the bank.
MPs are claiming that Lloyds, along withAlder King, a firm of propertyvaluersand receivers worked together to force small businesses into liquidation as the bank sought to clean up its balance sheet after the financial crisis.
Still, as of yet the SFO hasnt announced a formal investigation.
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Rupert Hargreaves has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.