Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company.

BCS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup cut shares of Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th.

Institutional Trading of Barclays

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Barclays by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 83,062,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,544,139,000 after acquiring an additional 9,692,999 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Barclays by 37.6% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 33,607,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $516,163,000 after buying an additional 9,188,263 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Barclays by 485.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,680,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,789,000 after buying an additional 5,538,912 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Barclays by 78.7% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 8,892,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $136,593,000 after purchasing an additional 3,917,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays in the 4th quarter worth $50,189,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Barclays Price Performance

Shares of BCS opened at $20.56 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.74 and a 200 day moving average of $16.74. Barclays has a twelve month low of $11.22 and a twelve month high of $20.56.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $9.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.06 billion. Barclays had a net margin of 22.11% and a return on equity of 8.49%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Barclays will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.1557 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 210.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. Barclays’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.29%.

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.