Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.50.

BBSI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Barrett Business Services from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of Barrett Business Services in a report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Barrett Business Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Zacks Research raised shares of Barrett Business Services from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Roth Mkm cut their target price 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.

Barrett Business Services Trading Up 2.8%

NASDAQ BBSI opened at $30.04 on Friday. Barrett Business Services has a 12 month low of $25.33 and a 12 month high of $49.65. The stock has a market cap of $737.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50 day moving average is $29.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.50.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $307.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $306.68 million. Barrett Business Services had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 22.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.04) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Barrett Business Services will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Barrett Business Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gary Kramer acquired 8,370 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.89 per share, with a total value of $225,069.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 328,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,841,458.89. This represents a 2.61% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP James R. Potts sold 1,803 shares of Barrett Business Services stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.68, for a total transaction of $51,710.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 33,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $970,445.16. The trade was a 5.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Barrett Business Services

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 63.0% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services in the third quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services in the third quarter valued at about $66,000. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.