Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its position in Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 455,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 65,117 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 1.76% of Barrett Business Services worth $19,805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barrett Business Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $313,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Barrett Business Services by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,586 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Barrett Business Services by 59.0% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 71,762 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,117,000 after acquiring an additional 26,637 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in Barrett Business Services by 43.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 27,831 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 8,403 shares during the period. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Barrett Business Services by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 6,773 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on BBSI. Wall Street Zen downgraded Barrett Business Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Barrett Business Services

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

Barrett Business Services Stock Down 0.7%

Barrett Business Services stock opened at $41.09 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.68, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.02. Barrett Business Services, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.06 and a 52-week high of $44.97.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $292.60 million during 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%. Barrett Business Services’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.01) EPS. Research analysts expect that Barrett Business Services, Inc. will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Barrett Business Services’s payout ratio is 16.41%.

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.