Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BCS. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research downgraded Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Barclays from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Barclays from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th.

Barclays Stock Performance

Shares of BCS stock opened at $22.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45. Barclays has a 12-month low of $15.42 and a 12-month high of $27.70.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $9.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.23 billion. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 21.91%. Analysts expect that Barclays will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were given a $0.3069 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 236.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Barclays’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barclays

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of Barclays by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Barclays by 1.1% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 42,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in shares of Barclays by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 14,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Barclays by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 122,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Barclays by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

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.