Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Short Interest Up 70.5% in July

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 7,358,304 shares, a growth of 70.5% from the July 15th total of 4,314,606 shares. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 6,646,476 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Barclays from an “overweight” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Barclays from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklands Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in Barclays during the first quarter worth $1,405,000. Hedges Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Barclays in the fourth quarter valued at $3,067,000. Barometer Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Barclays by 2,009.8% in the 1st quarter. Barometer Capital Management Inc. now owns 86,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,830,000 after buying an additional 82,400 shares during the period. Bluebird Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Barclays during the 4th quarter worth about $2,628,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Barclays by 65.4% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 135,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,452,000 after acquiring an additional 53,655 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Barclays Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCS traded down $0.34 during trading on Monday, hitting $27.80. The company had a trading volume of 2,766,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,411,360. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.76. Barclays has a fifty-two week low of $19.28 and a fifty-two week high of $28.68.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.01. Barclays had a net margin of 22.27% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The firm had revenue of $10.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.78 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Barclays will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Barclays Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a $0.3134 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 224.0%. Barclays’s payout ratio is currently 22.39%.

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.