Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 80,578 Shares of Barrett Business Services, Inc. $BBSI

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 9.9%, owning 735,397 shares after selling 80,578 shares in the first quarter.
• Barrett Business Services reported a 10% year-over-year increase in revenue to $307.70 million and earnings per share of $0.70, exceeding forecasts.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, set to be paid on September 5th, signaling a dividend yield of 0.7%.

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its stake in shares of Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI - Free Report) by 9.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 735,397 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 80,578 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 2.86% of Barrett Business Services worth $30,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BBSI. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services during the 1st quarter valued at about $12,999,000. 4D Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,430,000. Chatham Capital Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 104.0% during the 1st quarter. Chatham Capital Group Inc. now owns 58,055 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 29,600 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 71,762 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,117,000 after acquiring an additional 26,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 80.1% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 50,122 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,063,000 after acquiring an additional 22,291 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Barrett Business Services

In other news, Director Anthony Meeker sold 7,380 shares of Barrett Business Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.14, for a total transaction of $310,993.20. Following the sale, the director owned 55,504 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,938.56. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas B. Cusick sold 3,064 shares of Barrett Business Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.64, for a total transaction of $145,968.96. Following the sale, the director owned 27,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,323,248.64. The trade was a 9.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,417 shares of company stock worth $1,628,361. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BBSI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barrington Research increased their price objective on shares of Barrett Business Services from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Barrett Business Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $47.00.

Barrett Business Services Price Performance

NASDAQ:BBSI traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $48.54. 115,175 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 144,444. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Barrett Business Services, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.43 and a 1 year high of $49.63. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $44.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.19.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.05. Barrett Business Services had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 24.59%. The business had revenue of $307.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Barrett Business Services, Inc. will post 2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrett Business Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Barrett Business Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.76%.

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.