Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Short Interest Down 15.9% in March

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,147,166 shares, a decline of 15.9% from the March 15th total of 6,118,063 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 9,042,719 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BCS. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Thursday, March 5th. BNP Paribas Exane cut Barclays from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Zacks Research cut Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barclays

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Barclays in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Barclays in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Barclays in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Barclays in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Barclays by 2,673.6% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 1,470 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,417 shares during the period. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barclays Trading Up 3.3%

BCS traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $24.27. 9,226,563 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,032,285. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $23.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.26. Barclays has a 52-week low of $14.32 and a 52-week high of $27.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.68 billion, a PE ratio of 10.60, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.97.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $9.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.23 billion. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 21.91%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Barclays will post 2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 25.33%.

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.