Employees Retirement System of Texas Sells 170,465 Shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS)

Employees Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) by 27.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 454,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 170,465 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Barclays were worth $60,420,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BCS. Henry James International Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Barclays during the 4th quarter valued at about $438,000. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in Barclays during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,514,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd bought a new position in shares of Barclays in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $599,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Barclays by 3,073.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 689,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,052,000 after buying an additional 667,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Barclays by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 308,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,103,000 after buying an additional 40,437 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Barclays Trading Down 7.9 %

Shares of BCS stock opened at $13.19 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.33. Barclays PLC has a 1 year low of $8.95 and a 1 year high of $16.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.11.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.15. Barclays had a net margin of 20.81% and a return on equity of 7.74%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Barclays PLC will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Barclays Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.2737 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.7%. This is an increase from Barclays’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.27. Barclays’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Barclays from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Barclays has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

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.