Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest fell 16.7% to 6,118,063 shares as of March 13, representing about 0.2% of shares outstanding and a short-interest ratio of 0.6 days based on average daily volume.
• Barclays beat Q4 estimates with EPS $0.46 vs. $0.42 and revenue $9.53B vs. $9.23B, declared a $0.3069 dividend payable March 31 (ex-dividend/record date Feb. 20), and trades with a market cap of $69.78B and a P/E of 8.84.

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 6,118,063 shares, a decline of 16.7% from the February 26th total of 7,348,113 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 10,611,408 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BCS shares. Erste Group Bank restated a "hold" rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research cut shares of Barclays from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Barclays Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of BCS opened at $20.24 on Monday. Barclays has a fifty-two week low of $12.14 and a fifty-two week high of $27.70. The business has a 50-day moving average of $24.23 and a 200 day moving average of $23.09. The firm has a market cap of $69.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.95. 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 (NYSE:BCS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $9.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.23 billion. Barclays had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 8.33%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Barclays will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Barclays Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barclays

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Barclays by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 89,750,069 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,284,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,722,757 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Barclays by 5.9% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 9,886,650 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $204,357,000 after purchasing an additional 549,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Barclays in the fourth quarter valued at $141,248,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Barclays by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,841,068 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $100,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362,247 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,242,360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 3.39% of the company's stock.

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.

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