Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Short Interest Update

Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 684,900 shares, a growth of 18.9% from the April 30th total of 576,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 157,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Barrett Business Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Barrett Business Services Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ BBSI opened at $41.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.02. Barrett Business Services has a 12 month low of $31.77 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.74.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.09. The company had revenue of $292.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $285.91 million. Barrett Business Services had a net margin of 4.55% and a return on equity of 25.28%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.01) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Barrett Business Services will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Barrett Business Services’s payout ratio is presently 16.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas J. Carley sold 12,354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.60, for a total value of $526,280.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 91,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,352.80. The trade was a 11.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BBSI. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Barrett Business Services during the 1st quarter worth $658,000. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services during the first quarter valued at about $1,732,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services during the first quarter valued at about $322,000. Millennium Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services during the first quarter worth about $3,747,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Barrett Business Services by 4.3% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,219 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 633 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Barrett Business Services

Barrett Business Services, Inc provides business management solutions for small and mid-sized companies in the United States. The company develops a management platform that integrates a knowledge-based approach from the management consulting industry with tools from the human resource outsourcing industry.