Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts are cautiously bullish on BBSI: The stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from five covering firms, with an average 12-month price target of $41.50.
• Recent earnings topped expectations: Barrett Business Services reported a smaller-than-expected loss of ($0.13) per share on revenue of $307.01 million, both slightly better than analyst estimates, and revenue rose 4.9% year over year.
• Dividend and ownership trends remain supportive: The company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share and insiders/institutions remain heavily involved, with 86.76% of shares held by institutional investors and a recent CEO stock purchase.

Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.50.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BBSI shares. Zacks Research raised Barrett Business Services from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings raised Barrett Business Services from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Monday. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Roth Mkm cut their price objective on Barrett Business Services from $54.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Barrett Business Services from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th.

Barrett Business Services Price Performance

BBSI opened at $34.34 on Thursday. Barrett Business Services has a fifty-two week low of $25.33 and a fifty-two week high of $49.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.65 and a 200-day moving average of $32.84. The company has a market capitalization of $843.39 million, a PE ratio of 22.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.96.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.02. Barrett Business Services had a return on equity of 22.89% and a net margin of 3.24%.The company had revenue of $307.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $306.68 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.04) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Barrett Business Services will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrett Business Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Barrett Business Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 870,863 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,534,000 after buying an additional 208,865 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 193,145 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,994,000 after buying an additional 63,854 shares during the last quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 121.3% in the 3rd quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. now owns 399,686 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $17,714,000 after buying an additional 219,049 shares during the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Barrett Business Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $622,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Barrett Business Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $881,000. 86.76% of the stock is 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.

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