Norges Bank Takes Position in Barclays PLC $BCS

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,550,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $141,248,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.16% of Barclays as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Barclays in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Barclays during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Barclays during the 4th quarter valued at $80,000. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in shares of Barclays by 130.9% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 4,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,000 after buying an additional 2,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of Barclays in the second quarter worth $118,000. Institutional investors own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Barclays Price Performance

Shares of Barclays stock opened at $24.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $85.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.94, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $23.17 and its 200 day moving average is $23.91. Barclays PLC has a one year low of $17.22 and a one year high of $27.70.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 21.10%.The business had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.88 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Barclays PLC will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Barclays from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Barclays from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Barclays presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Barclays Company Profile

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) is a British multinational bank and financial services company headquartered in London. The firm provides a broad range of banking and financial products to individual, corporate and institutional customers. Its core activities span retail and business banking, credit cards and payments, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.

In retail and business banking, Barclays offers deposit accounts, mortgages, personal and business loans, and card services.