Barclays (NYSE:BCS) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $27.09 and last traded at $26.8950, with a volume of 473783 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $26.38.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BCS. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Zacks Research cut Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Barclays has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Barclays Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.94, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $93.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.87.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $9.21 billion during the quarter. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.19% and a net margin of 21.26%. As a group, analysts predict that Barclays PLC will post 2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barclays

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Barclays by 13.2% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 9,692,999 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Barclays by 793.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,777,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,073,000 after buying an additional 4,242,360 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Barclays during the 2nd quarter worth about $63,206,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Barclays in the 2nd quarter valued at about $57,568,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Barclays by 1,719.7% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,031,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,919,843 shares in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.