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

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) saw 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. Based on an average trading volume of 6,646,476 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days. Approximately 0.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barclays

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brooklands Fund Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Barclays during the 1st quarter worth $1,405,000. Hedges Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Barclays in the fourth quarter worth $3,067,000. Barometer Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Barclays by 2,009.8% during the 1st quarter. Barometer Capital Management Inc. now owns 86,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,830,000 after acquiring an additional 82,400 shares during the last quarter. Bluebird Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Barclays during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,628,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Barclays by 65.4% in 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 last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Berenberg Bank initiated coverage on Barclays in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Barclays from an “overweight” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barclays has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Barclays Stock Performance

Shares of BCS traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $27.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,448,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,379,390. Barclays has a one year low of $19.28 and a one year high of $28.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.76. The firm has a market cap of $93.04 billion, a PE ratio of 10.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.00.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.01. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 22.27%.The company had revenue of $10.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.78 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Barclays will post 2.83 EPS for the current year.

Barclays Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be paid a $0.3134 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 224.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. Barclays’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.01%.

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.