At 520p, Barclays’ (LSE:BARC) shares are trading just below their five-year high of 538p reached in late July. The stock has climbed roughly 40% over the past year, yet it still screens as undervalued with a price-to-earnings (P\/E) ratio of just 10.8. <\/p>\n
So why does one major broker still expect a further 26% price increase from here? <\/p>\n
What the brokers are saying <\/p>\n
Seventeen analysts currently cover Barclays, with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average 12-month price target of 575p (a 10% gain). But the targets vary widely, from a cautious 510p at Citi to a bullish 655p from Goldman Sachs, the highest among major brokers. <\/p>\n
Top broker price targets: <\/p>\n
But is that 655p target realistic, and what could derail the growth story? <\/p>\n
The risks behind the rally <\/p>\n
Credit impairment charges rose to \u00a31.4bn in H1 2026, up from \u00a31.1bn a year earlier. This included a \u00a3228m one-off hit from the collapse of UK property lender Market Financial Solutions amid fraud allegations. <\/p>\n
Management now guides for the 2026 loan loss rate to sit around the top of its 50bps\u201360bps range, reflecting ongoing uncertainty in corporate loan quality. Operating expenses also increased 8.7% to \u00a34.52bn in Q2, ahead of consensus expectations. <\/p>\n
But that bank’s recent strong results go a long way to offset that risk. Barclays’ Q2 2026 earnings on July 28 were certainly impressive. Total income rose 16% to \u00a38.3bn, profit before tax surged 32% to \u00a33.3bn, and the bank raised its full-year 2026 income guidance to around \u00a331.5bn. Return on tangible equity (RoTE) hit 16.1%, well above the 12%+ target. <\/p>\n
When looking at the same quarter last year, the difference really stands out. Here’s a quick performance comparison: <\/p>\n
Interestingly, the US options market seems to think a big move is coming \u2014 a recent put option shows some of the highest implied volatility across the entire equity options market. But which direction is the real question. <\/p>\n
The bottom line <\/p>\n
Not every broker shares Goldman’s bullish sentiment \u2013 Citi remains Neutral \u2013 but the outlook is majority positive. JPMorgan, Jefferies, and Bank of America all envision double-digit growth potential. <\/p>\n
That view is supported by fundamentals: strong Investment Bank performance, raised guidance, and a P\/E ratio of 10.8 that remains below the sector average. <\/p>\n
So for investors who want to increase their exposure to the UK banking sector, I’d say Barclays is a good option to consider right now. <\/p>\n
But don’t ignore the risks: with credit impairments rising and costs climbing, it may struggle to sustain this momentum through 2026. <\/p>\n
Is a further 26% increase likely to happen this year? Probably not, but it’s not an entirely unrealistic target for the next 12 months \u2014 assuming the broader economy remains stable. <\/p>\n
Should you invest \u00a35,000 in Barclays Plc right now? <\/p>\n
When investing expert Mark Rogers and his team have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Twelfth Magpie Share Advisor newsletter he has run for nearly a decade has provided thousands of paying members with top stock recommendations from the UK and US markets. <\/p>\n
And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if Barclays Plc made the list? <\/p>\n
\u00a0See The Six Stocks <\/p>\n
Mark Hartley does not hold any positions in the companies mentioned. <\/p>\n
The post Can Barclays shares climb 26%? 1 major broker thinks so!<\/a> appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie<\/a>. <\/p>\n More reading <\/p>\n The Twelfth Magpie 2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 520p, Barclays’ (LSE:BARC) shares are trading just below their five-year high of 538p reached in late July.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21264],"tags":[23056,3343,13099,12770,4424],"class_list":["post-105289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barclays","tag-bank-of-america","tag-barclays","tag-citi","tag-goldman-sachs","tag-target"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117111765281253667","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}