SG Americas Securities LLC Purchases 164,341 Shares of Barclays PLC $BCS

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) by 96.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 334,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 164,341 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Barclays were worth $8,508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BCS. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Barclays by 13.2% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 83,062,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,544,139,000 after purchasing an additional 9,692,999 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Barclays by 793.5% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Barclays in the 2nd quarter valued at $63,206,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Barclays in the 2nd quarter valued at $57,568,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Barclays by 1,719.7% during the 2nd 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Barclays Price Performance

Shares of Barclays stock opened at $20.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $24.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45. Barclays PLC has a 1-year low of $12.14 and a 1-year high of $27.70.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $9.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.23 billion. Barclays had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 8.33%. On average, equities analysts predict that Barclays PLC will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be paid a $0.3069 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. This represents a yield of 236.0%. Barclays’s payout ratio is currently 25.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BCS shares. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Zacks Research cut Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

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.