Barclays Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:BCS)

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 6,025 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 127% compared to the typical volume of 2,653 put options.

Barclays Price Performance

BCS stock traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $23.48. The company had a trading volume of 1,760,686 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,434,158. The company has a market capitalization of $80.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.56. Barclays has a 1-year low of $16.57 and a 1-year high of $27.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.94, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.88 billion. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 21.10%. Equities research analysts expect that Barclays will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Barclays Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a $0.3069 dividend. This represents a yield of 236.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. Barclays’s payout ratio is 24.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BCS. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Barclays by 72.8% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 47,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 19,818 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Barclays by 19.6% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 23,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 3,868 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Barclays by 6.8% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 45,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 2,885 shares in the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new position in Barclays during the second quarter worth about $451,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Barclays by 3.2% during the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 243,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,530,000 after acquiring an additional 7,604 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BCS shares. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. BNP Paribas Exane cut shares of Barclays from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Zacks Research cut shares of Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Barclays presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

About Barclays

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.