Gary Kramer Purchases 8,370 Shares of Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) Stock

Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) CEO Gary Kramer bought 8,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $26.89 per share, with a total value of $225,069.30. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 328,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,841,458.89. This represents a 2.61% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Barrett Business Services Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of BBSI stock traded up $0.15 on Monday, reaching $27.65. The company had a trading volume of 259,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 348,695. The business’s 50-day moving average is $33.91 and its 200 day moving average is $38.03. Barrett Business Services, Inc. has a one year low of $25.33 and a one year high of $49.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $696.78 million, a PE ratio of 13.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.03.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The business services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $323.43 million. Barrett Business Services had a net margin of 4.39% and a return on equity of 23.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Barrett Business Services, Inc. will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Barrett Business Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BBSI. CJS Securities raised Barrett Business Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Barrett Business Services in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barrington Research lowered their price objective on Barrett Business Services from $46.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm dropped their price objective on shares of Barrett Business Services from $54.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Barrett Business Services from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.50.

Institutional Trading of Barrett Business Services

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Trigran Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Barrett Business Services in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,531,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services during the second quarter worth $454,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 20.6% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,901,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $84,271,000 after buying an additional 324,715 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Barrett Business Services by 1,176.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 123,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,484,000 after buying an additional 114,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 821,045.1% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 418,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $18,562,000 after buying an additional 418,733 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Barrett Business Services

Barrett Business Services, Inc (NASDAQ: BBSI) is a professional employer organization (PEO) headquartered in Northridge, California. Founded in 1971 by Barrett K. Levesque, the company provides comprehensive human resources outsourcing solutions to small and mid-sized businesses. Through its consultative model, Barrett Business Services helps clients streamline administrative processes, mitigate regulatory risk and focus on core operations.

The company’s core offerings include payroll administration, employee benefits management, workers’ compensation and risk management services.