Barclays PLC (BCS) – What Are Brokerages Thinking About This Stock?

Shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company.

BCS has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Barclays from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley downgraded Barclays from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America lowered Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Berenberg Bank began coverage on Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barclays

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BCS. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barclays during the first quarter valued at approximately $81,762,000. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays in the first quarter valued at approximately $24,704,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays in the first quarter valued at approximately $15,771,000. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in Barclays in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $13,268,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Barclays in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $9,888,000. Institutional investors own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Barclays Stock Performance

NYSE:BCS opened at $23.07 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $25.90 and its 200-day moving average is $25.28. Barclays has a 52-week low of $19.29 and a 52-week high of $28.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.76, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The company has a market cap of $77.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.60, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.02.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.01. Barclays had a net margin of 22.27% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The business had revenue of $27.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.78 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Barclays will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Barclays Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.3134 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a yield of 224.0%. Barclays’s payout ratio is currently 22.76%.

Barclays Company Profile

Barclays PLC is a diversified British financial services company headquartered in London. Tracing its history to 1690, the company operates as a universal bank serving individual consumers, businesses, institutions and governments.

Its services include personal and business banking, residential mortgages, credit cards, consumer lending, payments, commercial lending, wealth management and private banking. Through its investment bank, Barclays also provides corporate finance and advisory services, equity and debt underwriting, securities research, sales and trading, and related capital-markets services.

Barclays primarily serves customers in the United Kingdom and the United States, while its corporate, investment banking and markets activities support clients across international financial centers.