Short Interest in Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Rises By 14.8%

Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) was the target of a large growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 68,100 shares, a growth of 14.8% from the August 15th total of 59,300 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 28,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on BBSI. StockNews.com raised Barrett Business Services from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 target price on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Anthony Meeker sold 1,359 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.83, for a total transaction of $130,232.97. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,506,543.43. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Barrett Business Services by 80.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new position in Barrett Business Services during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 4,307.1% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 617 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Barrett Business Services by 26.9% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,029 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc bought a new stake in Barrett Business Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.91% of the company’s stock.

Barrett Business Services Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of BBSI stock traded down $1.05 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $90.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 45,237. Barrett Business Services has a one year low of $75.94 and a one year high of $100.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $93.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.75. The company has a market cap of $608.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.37.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The business services provider reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.62. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Barrett Business Services had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 26.72%. Research analysts anticipate that Barrett Business Services will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 18th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Barrett Business Services’s dividend payout ratio is 17.96%.

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.