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

Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as GBX 531.30 and last traded at GBX 523.51, with a volume of 29624189 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 529.50.

Key Headlines Impacting Barclays

Here are the key news stories impacting Barclays this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays was cited as an analyst source on several other companies, including a positive “Overweight” call on Fervo Energy and a price-target update on Flex, which does not directly move Barclays stock but keeps the bank visible in recent market commentary.
• Neutral Sentiment: One headline noted a Treasury update affecting Lloyds, Santander, Barclays and other bank customers, but the available details do not indicate a material new policy change specifically impacting Barclays PLC (BARC).
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays was mentioned in a story about strategy-stock recommendations where its analyst stance on MicroStrategy (MSTR) came across as poorly timed, reinforcing the view that some recent Barclays-linked market calls have not been helping sentiment.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BARC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Berenberg Bank reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a GBX 620 target price on shares of Barclays in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Shore Capital Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Barclays to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from GBX 550 to GBX 575 in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Barclays from GBX 590 to GBX 600 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Barclays from GBX 425 to GBX 450 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 545.

Barclays Trading Up 0.1%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is GBX 468.12 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 455.16. The company has a market cap of £68.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.88.

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

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. 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.