Insider Buying: TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) CEO Purchases 20,400 Shares of Stock

TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) CEO Taryn Owen bought 20,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $3.79 per share, with a total value of $77,316.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 791,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,000,948.53. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

TrueBlue Stock Up 4.7%

Shares of NYSE:TBI traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $3.98. 325,047 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 232,859. The firm has a market cap of $119.65 million, a PE ratio of -2.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.49. TrueBlue, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $3.44 and a fifty-two week high of $7.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.28. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.17). TrueBlue had a negative net margin of 2.97% and a negative return on equity of 6.87%. The firm had revenue of $418.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $413.31 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that TrueBlue, Inc. will post 0.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TBI has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of TrueBlue from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Zacks Research cut shares of TrueBlue from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird set a $5.50 price objective on shares of TrueBlue in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of TrueBlue in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered TrueBlue from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, TrueBlue presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 1,236.2% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 547,528 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,547,000 after buying an additional 506,550 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of TrueBlue in the 2nd quarter worth about $996,000. Corton Capital Inc. bought a new position in TrueBlue in the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,000. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in TrueBlue by 35.3% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 430,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,789,000 after purchasing an additional 112,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in TrueBlue by 162.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 210,371 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after purchasing an additional 130,201 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.15% of the company’s stock.

TrueBlue Company Profile

TrueBlue, Inc is a Tacoma, Washington–based workforce solutions provider specializing in temporary staffing, permanent placement and managed service solutions. Operating through its subsidiaries and brands, TrueBlue connects clients across manufacturing, logistics, retail, construction and public sector markets with skilled professionals for both short-term and long-term engagements. The company’s offerings encompass on-demand blue-collar labor, specialized industrial staffing, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and contingent workforce management.

TrueBlue’s primary service lines include PeopleReady, which supplies general labor for construction, hospitality and event services; PeopleManagement, which focuses on technical and industrial professionals; PeopleScout, a global RPO business offering end-to-end talent acquisition and consulting; and Staff Management | SMX, which delivers seasonal staffing for large-scale events, amusement parks and federal workforce contracts.