BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 1,216,682 Shares of Barclays PLC $BCS

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its stake in shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) by 82.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 256,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,216,682 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Barclays were worth $6,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Barclays by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 89,750,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,284,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,722,757 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Barclays by 5.9% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 9,886,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $204,357,000 after acquiring an additional 549,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Barclays during the fourth quarter worth about $141,248,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Barclays by 39.2% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,841,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $100,065,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Barclays by 793.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,777,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $99,073,000 after acquiring an additional 4,242,360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 3.39% of the company’s stock.

Barclays Trading Up 0.3%

Barclays stock opened at $24.31 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.94. Barclays PLC has a 52 week low of $17.22 and a 52 week high of $27.70. The company has a market capitalization of $82.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.98.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Barclays had a return on equity of 8.12% and a net margin of 21.10%.The firm had revenue of $5.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.88 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Barclays PLC will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BCS. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Zacks Research lowered Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Barclays in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered Barclays from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Barclays from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

About Barclays

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.