Wealthfront Advisers LLC Invests $169,000 in Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $169,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Barclays by 11.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,432,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,149,000 after buying an additional 667,498 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,373,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays in the third quarter valued at about $52,335,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Barclays by 286.1% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 3,565,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,315,000 after buying an additional 2,641,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Todd Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Barclays by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 3,484,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,315,000 after buying an additional 18,854 shares in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BCS shares. StockNews.com lowered Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BNP Paribas upgraded Barclays from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Barclays Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCS opened at $15.61 on Tuesday. Barclays PLC has a fifty-two week low of $8.95 and a fifty-two week high of $16.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $14.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.33. The firm has a market cap of $56.11 billion, a PE ratio of 8.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.38.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.15. Barclays had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 20.81%. Sell-side analysts expect that Barclays PLC will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.2737 dividend. This is a positive change from Barclays’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.7%. Barclays’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.80%.

Barclays Profile

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.