Do analysts think that Barclays is a buy, hold or sell?

Trying to predict how the Covid-19 crisis will impact on companies and sectors is not easy. Fortunately, large companies like Barclays (LON:BARC) are well covered by professional analysts who are used to making forecasts about them. 

Barclays is one of just 200 shares in the UK market valued at more than £1.0 billion (its market cap is £32,134m). Shares like this are closely watched because they have an influential role in the performance of investment funds and pension portfolios held by millions of savers. 

So how have the shares performed over the past year?

On a 12 month basis, the Barclays share price has seen an absolute move of 90.3%. On a relative basis - which take into account the movement of the wider market - the shares have moved by 53.8% over the past year and by 47.5% over the past six months.

But what now?

Do analysts rate it as a buy, sell or hold?

Regardless of recent performance, the main question is what the future holds. In uncertain economic conditions, it's often difficult to get an accurate view. The good news is that analysts generally have a solid understanding of the market's biggest businesses, so they are well-placed to make predictions. That shows up in their Buy, Hold and Sell recommendations.

Among the analysts covering Barclays, there are currently:

• 4 Buy recommendations
• 6 Hold recommendations
• 0 Sell recommendations

With this kind of information, it's possible to start forming a view about the outlook for any share. A combination of recent price performance and analyst recommendations gives you a flavour of whether the market is expecting a bright future - or whether there are causes for concern.

It's also worth looking at the profile of the stock to understand whether it has strong positive exposure to important factors like Quality, Value and Momentum. On that basis, Stockopedia currently classifies Barclays as a turnaround. You can read more about what that means here.

What does this mean for potential investors?

Barclays is one of the most closely watched shares in the market. But while price trends and broker recommendations can give you an idea about the sentiment around a stock, they can't tell you everything. 

To get a better understanding of the overall investment case, it's worth doing some investigation yourself. Indeed, we've identified some areas of concern with Barclays that you can find out about here.