Barclays plc News

ENSCO PLC was upgraded by Citigroup to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Monday.

Buckeye Partners 's stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by investment analysts at UBS AG in a note issued to investors on Monday.

Research analysts at Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Merck & Co to $37.00 in a report issued on Monday.

Barclays Capital was downgraded by research analysts at Societe Generale from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Monday.

U.K. Banks have begun to report quarterly earnings, with The Wall Street Journal arguing that analysts are still uncertain about how the British banks will ride out the unfolding debt crisis in Europe.

The following five companies are all selling cheaply in terms of earnings, relative to main competitors in the industry that they operate.

Analysts at Jefferies Group raised their price target on shares of Thermon Group to $22.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

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Research analysts at Ladenburg Thalmann decreased their price target on shares of EnCana from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report issued on Friday.

Philip Morris 's stock had its "neutral" rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Goldman Sachs in a report issued on Friday.

Devon Energy was downgraded by FBR Capital from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note issued on Friday.

NXP Semiconductors 's stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Jefferies Group in a research note issued on Friday.

On the commodities front, Oil fell to $99.01 a barrel. Precious metals were also down, with Gold falling to $1,721.50 an ounce while Silver fell 1.30% to settle at $33.48. 1) Greece.

The only thing about Barclays' results that people really wanted to know, the size of Bob Diamond's pay packet, remains a closely guarded secret.

Barclays fiscal year 2011 net attributable profit of 3 billion pounds is down from 3.56 billion in 2010 on "challenging" market conditions.

LONDON U.K. banking group Barclays PLC Friday said it would cap investment banker bonuses as its 2011 full-year net profit slumped on a sharp drop in investment banking revenue.The London-based bank said net profit for 2011 fell 8% to GBP3 billion.

Shares of Volterra Semi hit a new all-time high on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $32.01 during mid-day trading and last traded at $31.87. The stock previously closed at $30.53. Separately, analysts at Barclays Capital reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Volterra Semi in a research note to investors on Tuesday, January 24th.

Barclays, the British bank, said on Friday that its profit fell last year as the economic climate deteriorated and that it might have to abandon its performance target for next year.

TriQuint Semiconductor 's stock had its "equalweight" rating reaffirmed by analysts at Barclays Capital in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

The Wall Street sign is displayed in front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, U.S. The Wall Street sign is displayed in front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, U.S. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg The Federal Reserve secretly selected a handful of banks to bid for debt securities acquired by taxpayers in the U.S. bailout of ... (more)