Short Interest in Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Drops By 19.9%

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrett Business Services

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services in the 4th quarter valued at $2,399,000. FMR LLC boosted 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 valued at $28,459,000 after purchasing an additional 12,997 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 10,010 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gladius Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 82.2% in the 3rd quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 1,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 889 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barrington Research reiterated 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 Price Performance

NASDAQ:BBSI traded up $1.45 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $123.22. 7,189 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 29,682. The company has a market capitalization of $805.86 million, a P/E ratio of 16.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.35. Barrett Business Services has a 1-year low of $76.22 and a 1-year high of $130.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $120.79 and a 200 day moving average of $112.47.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The business services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. Barrett Business Services had a return on equity of 27.69% and a net margin of 4.73%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Barrett Business Services will post 7.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Barrett Business Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.15%.

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.