Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

Separately, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Barrett Business Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BBSI opened at $42.42 on Friday. Barrett Business Services has a fifty-two week low of $30.68 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.02.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.09. Barrett Business Services had a return on equity of 25.28% and a net margin of 4.55%. The company had revenue of $292.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $285.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.01) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Barrett Business Services will post 2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrett Business Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Barrett Business Services’s payout ratio is presently 16.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrett Business Services

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BBSI. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Barrett Business Services by 42.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,332 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,300,000 after purchasing an additional 18,414 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Barrett Business Services by 1.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 42,790 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,590,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Barrett Business Services by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,402 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $626,000 after purchasing an additional 2,265 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of Barrett Business Services in the fourth quarter worth about $481,000. Finally, Longboard Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Barrett Business Services in the fourth quarter worth about $217,000. 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.