Barclays (NYSE:BCS) Shares Gap Up to $6.96

Posted by on Apr 1st, 2023

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $6.96, but opened at $7.19. Barclays shares last traded at $7.17, with a volume of 1,745,157 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised Barclays from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Barclays from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 6th. Exane BNP Paribas raised Barclays from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Barclays in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barclays currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.00.

Barclays Stock Up 1.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.72, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.53 billion, a PE ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.75.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $6.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.13 billion. Barclays had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 6.81%. On average, analysts forecast that Barclays PLC will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $0.104 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 23rd. This represents a dividend yield of 6.4%. Barclays’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barclays

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Barclays by 34.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 15,760,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $122,930,000 after purchasing an additional 4,013,456 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Barclays by 231.7% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 4,068,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,924,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842,349 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Barclays by 268.6% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC now owns 3,822,683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,465,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,466 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Barclays by 326.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,405,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,005,000 after buying an additional 1,841,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of Barclays by 1,124.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,595,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,444,000 after buying an additional 1,465,127 shares during the last quarter. 3.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Barclays

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Barclays Plc operates as a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of retail banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, and wealth management services. The firm operates through Barclays UK and Barclays International segments. The Barclays UK segment consists the U.K. retail banking operations, U.K.

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