Short Interest in Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Decreases By 54.9%

Key Points

• Short interest in Barclays (NYSE:BCS) fell by 54.9% in April to 2,319,553 shares (about 0.1% of shares outstanding), with a days-to-cover ratio of 0.3.
• Several institutional investors raised their stakes in Q1 — notably KeyBank (+145.9%) — and hedge funds/institutions now own 3.39% of the company.
• Barclays beat quarterly estimates, reporting $0.46 EPS versus $0.42 expected and $9.53B in revenue, and paid a dividend of $0.3069 per share.

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,319,553 shares, a drop of 54.9% from the March 31st total of 5,147,166 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,063,193 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in shares of Barclays by 145.9% during the first quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 43,905 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $929,000 after buying an additional 26,049 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of Barclays by 26.4% during the first quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 12,480 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $264,000 after buying an additional 2,603 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Financial boosted its position in shares of Barclays by 3,036.4% during the first quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 1,725 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,670 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Barclays by 15.8% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $392,000 after buying an additional 2,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Barclays by 5.0% during the first quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,507 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 1,511 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.39% of the company's stock.

Barclays Trading Up 0.7%

BCS stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $22.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,211,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,294,088. The company has a market cap of $79.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.97. The business's 50 day moving average price is $22.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45. Barclays has a 12 month low of $15.52 and a 12 month high of $27.70.

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 firm had revenue of $9.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.23 billion. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 21.91%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Barclays will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

Barclays Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.3069 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. This represents a dividend yield of 236.0%. Barclays's payout ratio is currently 24.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on BCS shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Friday, February 13th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered Barclays from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Barclays from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold".

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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