Barclays (LON:BARC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as GBX 524.10 and last traded at GBX 523, with a volume of 311283125 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 515.

Key Stories Impacting Barclays

Here are the key news stories impacting Barclays this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Swift announced a framework with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest to improve international retail transfers, a potentially constructive development for Barclays’ U.K. payments franchise. Swift Helps UK Banks Speed Consumer X-Border Payments
• Positive Sentiment: Barclays also received fresh attention in the market after other companies’ coverage and analyst commentary continued to show Barclays as an active, influential lender with ongoing brokerage support.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent company announcements about share capital and voting rights were procedural updates, with little direct fundamental impact on earnings or valuation. Barclays Confirms Total Voting Rights and Share Capital Base
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays also added a small number of new shares to its London listing, which is likely routine capital-management activity rather than a major stock-moving event. Barclays Adds 1.7 Million New Shares to London Listing

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Barclays from GBX 570 to GBX 590 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Barclays to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from GBX 550 to GBX 575 in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Barclays from GBX 590 to GBX 600 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Berenberg Bank reissued a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 620 price target on shares of Barclays in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Barclays from GBX 425 to GBX 450 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 545.

Barclays Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of £70.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is GBX 457.65 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 452.71.

Barclays (LON:BARC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported GBX 14.10 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of GBX 816.30 billion for the quarter. Barclays had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 17.81%. On average, research analysts expect that Barclays PLC will post 39.1062802 EPS for the current year.

About Barclays

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. In addition, the company engages in securities dealing activities. The company was formerly known as Barclays Bank Limited and changed its name to Barclays PLC in January 1985.