Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,147,166 shares, a decline of 15.9% from the March 15th total of 6,118,063 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,042,719 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BCS. BNP Paribas Exane cut Barclays from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Barclays presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Barclays Stock Performance

NYSE:BCS opened at $24.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. Barclays has a 52-week low of $14.32 and a 52-week high of $27.70. The firm has a market cap of $83.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day moving average is $23.10 and its 200 day moving average is $23.28.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 21.91%.The company had revenue of $9.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.23 billion. Research analysts predict that Barclays will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Barclays Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.3069 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 236.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Barclays’s payout ratio is presently 25.33%.

Institutional Trading of Barclays

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barclays during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Barclays during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in Barclays during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Barclays during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in Barclays by 2,673.6% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,417 shares in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.