National Bank of Canada FI Grows Holdings in Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS)

National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS - Free Report) by 77.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 835,051 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 364,182 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Barclays were worth $11,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Barclays by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 268,284 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,260,000 after buying an additional 44,760 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barclays by 11.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,432,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $78,149,000 after acquiring an additional 667,498 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in Barclays by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 21,044 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420 shares in the last quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC grew its position in Barclays by 129.8% during the 3rd quarter. PEAK6 Investments LLC now owns 11,190 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $136,000 after purchasing an additional 48,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Barclays by 19.0% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 28,287 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 4,517 shares during the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BCS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Barclays from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut Barclays from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Barclays Stock Performance

BCS stock traded down $0.54 on Thursday, hitting $13.42. The company had a trading volume of 7,913,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,040,574. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.33. Barclays PLC has a 12-month low of $8.95 and a 12-month high of $16.34. The stock has a market cap of $48.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.11. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $15.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.86.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.15. Barclays had a return on equity of 7.74% and a net margin of 20.81%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Barclays PLC will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barclays Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.2737 per share. This is an increase from Barclays's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.7%. Barclays's payout ratio is presently 29.89%.

Barclays 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.