Sapient Capital LLC Invests $159,000 in Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 20,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $159,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BCS. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Barclays by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 154,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 4,644 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp grew its holdings in Barclays by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 144,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 12,762 shares during the last quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Barclays in the fourth quarter valued at $291,000. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its stake in shares of Barclays by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 36,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 1,732 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Barclays in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $190.00.

Barclays Stock Performance

NYSE BCS opened at $10.72 on Thursday. Barclays PLC has a twelve month low of $6.23 and a twelve month high of $10.73. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $9.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.15. The company has a market capitalization of $40.64 billion, a PE ratio of 8.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.43.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The financial services provider reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.39). Barclays had a return on equity of 6.13% and a net margin of 17.21%. The firm had revenue of $6.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.38 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Barclays PLC will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Barclays Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.2671 per share. This represents a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This is an increase from Barclays’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.14. Barclays’s dividend payout ratio is 38.81%.

About Barclays

Barclays PLC provides various financial services in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The company operates through Barclays UK and Barclays International division segments. It offers financial services, such as retail banking, credit cards, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services.