Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Seven analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating on Barclays (four Hold, three Buy).
• Barclays beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $0.46 versus $0.42 expected and revenue of $9.53B versus $9.23B, and the stock trades at roughly a 10.6 P/E with a market cap near $83.7B.
• The bank recently paid a $0.3069 dividend (record Feb. 20, paid Mar. 31) and has seen notable institutional activity, including large/new stakes from Norges Bank, Ameriprise and Fisher Asset Management.

Shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the seven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BCS. Zacks Research downgraded Barclays from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Barclays from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Friday, February 13th.

Barclays Price Performance

BCS stock opened at $24.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45. Barclays has a 52-week low of $14.32 and a 52-week high of $27.70. The stock's 50 day moving average is $23.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.28. The company has a market capitalization of $83.68 billion, a PE ratio of 10.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.97.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $9.23 billion. Analysts predict that Barclays will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCS. Norges Bank bought a new position in Barclays during the 4th quarter worth $141,248,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Barclays by 793.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,777,017 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $99,073,000 after buying an additional 4,242,360 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Barclays by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 89,750,069 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,284,139,000 after buying an additional 3,722,757 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Research LLC bought a new position in Barclays during the 3rd quarter worth $35,035,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Barclays by 7,013.1% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,671,369 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $31,071,000 after buying an additional 1,647,872 shares during 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.

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