AQR Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI)

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,677,856 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 136,816 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Robert Half were worth $118,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Robert Half by 131.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 344,233 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,205,000 after purchasing an additional 195,570 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Robert Half by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 13,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $940,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Robert Half during the 3rd quarter worth $1,461,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Robert Half by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 270,467 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,232,000 after buying an additional 46,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Robert Half by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.41% of the company’s stock.

Robert Half Price Performance

RHI stock opened at $44.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.14 and a beta of 1.13. Robert Half Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.00 and a 12 month high of $78.41. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.44.

Robert Half (NYSE:RHI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The business services provider reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Robert Half had a net margin of 4.34% and a return on equity of 17.20%. Robert Half’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Robert Half Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Robert Half Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Robert Half’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Robert Half’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 118.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on RHI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Robert Half from $65.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Robert Half from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Robert Half from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Robert Half from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.50 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Robert Half from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.75.

Robert Half Company Profile

Robert Half Inc provides talent solutions and business consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through Contract Talent Solutions, Permanent Placement Talent Solutions, and Protiviti segments. The Contract Talent Solutions segment provides contract engagement professionals in the fields of finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal and administrative, and customer support.