Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Short Interest Down 9.8% in January

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,890,000 shares, a drop of 9.8% from the January 15th total of 9,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.7 days. Approximately 0.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCS. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Barclays by 485.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,680,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,789,000 after acquiring an additional 5,538,912 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Barclays during the 4th quarter worth $59,373,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Barclays in the 3rd quarter valued at $52,335,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays in the 4th quarter valued at $50,189,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Barclays by 667.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,603,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,886,000 after acquiring an additional 3,133,632 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th.

Barclays Trading Up 5.0 %

BCS stock opened at $15.63 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $13.95 and its 200-day moving average is $12.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.67. The firm has a market cap of $56.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.41. Barclays has a 1-year low of $8.18 and a 1-year high of $15.65.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.15. Barclays had a net margin of 17.83% and a return on equity of 6.30%. Equities analysts anticipate that Barclays will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.2737 dividend. This is an increase from Barclays’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a yield of 2.7%. Barclays’s payout ratio is presently 20.41%.

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.