LPL Financial LLC Buys 40,066 Shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS)

LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) by 24.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 203,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,066 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Barclays were worth $3,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BCS. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Barclays by 485.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,680,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,789,000 after acquiring an additional 5,538,912 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Barclays in the fourth quarter valued at $50,189,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Barclays in the fourth quarter worth $26,932,000. Duquesne Family Office LLC raised its stake in Barclays by 58.7% during the fourth quarter. Duquesne Family Office LLC now owns 3,186,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Barclays by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,059,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $80,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,401 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Barclays Price Performance

Shares of BCS opened at $20.27 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.80. The company has a market cap of $71.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.70. Barclays PLC has a twelve month low of $11.22 and a twelve month high of $20.56.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $9.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.06 billion. Barclays had a net margin of 22.11% and a return on equity of 8.49%. As a group, analysts predict that Barclays PLC will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be issued a $0.1557 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. This represents a yield of 210.0%. Barclays’s payout ratio is presently 14.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 13th. Citigroup cut Barclays from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Barclays presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

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.