Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Receives $41.50 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.50.

BBSI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Barrett Business Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Barrett Business Services from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Barrett Business Services from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm dropped their price objective on shares of Barrett Business Services from $54.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th.

Barrett Business Services Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of BBSI opened at $31.52 on Friday. Barrett Business Services has a fifty-two week low of $25.33 and a fifty-two week high of $49.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $29.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.16. The company has a market cap of $774.13 million, a P/E ratio of 20.47, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.97.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.02. Barrett Business Services had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 22.89%. The firm had revenue of $307.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Barrett Business Services will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Barrett Business Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Barrett Business Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Barrett Business Services news, EVP James R. Potts sold 1,803 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.68, for a total value of $51,710.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 33,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $970,445.16. This represents a 5.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary Kramer acquired 8,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.89 per share, for a total transaction of $225,069.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 328,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,841,458.89. The trade was a 2.61% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrett Business Services

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 45,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,037,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 49,800 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,207,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 63.0% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 4.3% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 37,091 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,644,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrett Business Services Company Profile

Barrett Business Services, Inc (NASDAQ: BBSI) is a professional employer organization (PEO) headquartered in Northridge, California. Founded in 1971 by Barrett K. Levesque, the company provides comprehensive human resources outsourcing solutions to small and mid-sized businesses. Through its consultative model, Barrett Business Services helps clients streamline administrative processes, mitigate regulatory risk and focus on core operations.

The company’s core offerings include payroll administration, employee benefits management, workers’ compensation and risk management services.