Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Barclays from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered shares of Barclays from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Wednesday, February 11th.

Barclays Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BCS opened at $22.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.01. Barclays has a 1-year low of $17.22 and a 1-year high of $27.70. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $22.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.94.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.88 billion. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 21.10%. Equities analysts predict that Barclays will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barclays

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Barclays during the 4th quarter worth $141,248,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position 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 period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Barclays during the 1st quarter worth $81,762,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,722,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Research LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays during the 3rd quarter worth $35,035,000. Institutional investors own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

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.