Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) saw a large decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 48,700 shares, a decline of 19.9% from the March 31st total of 60,800 shares. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 29,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $141.00 target price on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research note on Monday, April 22nd.

Barrett Business Services Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of BBSI traded down $1.34 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $121.77. 24,877 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,466. Barrett Business Services has a 52-week low of $76.22 and a 52-week high of $130.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $120.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $112.34. The company has a market cap of $795.89 million, a P/E ratio of 16.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.35.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The business services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.29. Barrett Business Services had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 27.69%. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Barrett Business Services will post 7.78 EPS for the current year.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Barrett Business Services’s payout ratio is currently 16.15%.

Institutional Trading of Barrett Business Services

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 121.5% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 45,879 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,814,000 after buying an additional 25,165 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 193,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $22,454,000 after buying an additional 18,897 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 315,370 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,459,000 after buying an additional 12,997 shares during the last quarter. Willner & Heller LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services in the 4th quarter worth about $1,121,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services in the 3rd quarter worth about $677,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

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.