Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI) Position Cut by Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC

Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI) by 35.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,456 shares during the quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Robert Half were worth $349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in Robert Half in the first quarter worth approximately $616,000. Natixis acquired a new stake in Robert Half in the first quarter worth approximately $90,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in Robert Half by 1.3% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 213,694 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,955,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in Robert Half by 671.3% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 12,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 10,741 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in Robert Half in the first quarter worth approximately $1,222,000. 92.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on RHI. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Robert Half from $84.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Robert Half from $72.00 to $64.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Robert Half from $74.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas upgraded Robert Half from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Robert Half from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dirk A. Kempthorne sold 2,221 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.66, for a total value of $154,714.86. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $746,267.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Robert Half Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE RHI traded down $4.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $59.91. The company had a trading volume of 3,491,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,494,704. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 1.25. Robert Half Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.05 and a twelve month high of $88.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $64.80 and its 200-day moving average is $72.93.

Robert Half (NYSE:RHI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The business services provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Robert Half had a return on equity of 22.36% and a net margin of 5.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Robert Half Inc. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Robert Half Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. Robert Half’s payout ratio is 63.47%.

About Robert Half

Robert Half Inc provides talent solutions and business consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through Contract Talent Solutions, Permanent Placement Talent Solutions, and Protiviti segments. The Contract Talent Solutions segment provides contract engagement professionals in the fields of finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal and administrative, and customer support.