Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,800,000 shares, a growth of 32.7% from the January 31st total of 8,890,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 15,760,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.7 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barclays

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Henry James International Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays during the 4th quarter worth about $438,000. ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in Barclays during the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,514,000. Stonehage Fleming Financial Services Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in Barclays during the fourth quarter worth approximately $599,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Barclays by 3,073.2% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 689,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,052,000 after buying an additional 667,687 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in Barclays during the third quarter worth approximately $3,647,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BCS. StockNews.com cut Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BNP Paribas upgraded Barclays from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Barclays currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Barclays Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of BCS traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $15.66. The company had a trading volume of 38,360,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,321,227. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.33, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. Barclays has a 1 year low of $8.63 and a 1 year high of $16.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.25.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.15. Barclays had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 20.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Barclays will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Barclays Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.2737 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a positive change from Barclays’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.27. Barclays’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.80%.

Barclays Company Profile

Barclays PLC provides various financial services in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The company operates through Barclays UK and Barclays International division segments. It offers financial services, such as retail banking, credit cards, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services.