Barclays (NYSE:BCS) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on BCS. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Barclays currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Barclays Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of BCS stock opened at $25.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $25.86 and a 200-day moving average of $22.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45. The stock has a market cap of $89.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.32, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.96. Barclays has a 1-year low of $12.14 and a 1-year high of $27.70.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. Barclays had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 8.33%. The business had revenue of $72.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.23 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Barclays will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Barclays by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 445 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Barclays by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 42,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of Barclays by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 14,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Barclays by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 122,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Barclays by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

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.