Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $108.81, but opened at $105.16. Booz Allen Hamilton shares last traded at $106.24, with a volume of 342,731 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAH has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Booz Allen Hamilton to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays upgraded shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Booz Allen Hamilton from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Booz Allen Hamilton from $164.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James raised Booz Allen Hamilton from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.36.

Booz Allen Hamilton Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $13.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $112.76 and a 200-day moving average of $136.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.07. Booz Allen Hamilton had a net margin of 7.39% and a return on equity of 68.97%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booz Allen Hamilton Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Booz Allen Hamilton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Booz Allen Hamilton’s dividend payout ratio is 32.79%.

Institutional Trading of Booz Allen Hamilton

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,518,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $581,516,000 after buying an additional 501,725 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,804,642 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $360,957,000 after acquiring an additional 371,390 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,341,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $381,898,000 after acquiring an additional 58,038 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 179.7% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,767,129 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $227,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Booz Allen Hamilton by 61.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,552,217 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $199,770,000 after purchasing an additional 590,655 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.82% of the company’s stock.

Booz Allen Hamilton Company Profile

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation provides management and technology consulting, analytics, engineering, digital solutions, mission operations, and cyber services to governments, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations in the United States and internationally. It focuses on artificial intelligence services comprising of machine learning, predictive modeling, automation and decision analytics, and quantum computing.