Main Street Research LLC Makes New Investment in Barclays PLC $BCS

Main Street Research LLC bought a new stake in Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,694,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $35,035,000. Barclays accounts for about 1.9% of Main Street Research LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barclays by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 83,062,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,544,139,000 after buying an additional 9,692,999 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Barclays in the second quarter worth approximately $63,206,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Barclays in the second quarter worth approximately $57,568,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Barclays by 1,719.7% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,031,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,919,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Barclays by 7,013.1% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,671,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,647,872 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Barclays Trading Down 2.2%

BCS opened at $20.44 on Friday. Barclays PLC has a 52 week low of $12.14 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.00. The firm has a market cap of $70.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.95.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.04. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.33% and a net margin of 21.91%.The firm had revenue of $9.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.23 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Barclays PLC will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Barclays Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.3069 dividend. This represents a yield of 236.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. Barclays’s payout ratio is currently 26.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BCS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Barclays from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

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.