Strs Ohio Buys Shares of 16,000 Barrett Business Services, Inc. $BBSI

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has acquired a new position in Barrett Business Services, purchasing 16,000 shares valued at approximately $658,000, resulting in a 0.06% ownership stake at the end of the recent quarter.
• Barrett Business Services reported a Q2 EPS of $0.70, exceeding estimates of $0.65, with revenues up by 10% year-over-year to $307.70 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08, representing a 0.7% yield, with a payout ratio of 15.76%.

Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,000 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $658,000. Strs Ohio owned about 0.06% of Barrett Business Services at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BBSI. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Barrett Business Services in the 1st quarter valued at about $12,999,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barrett Business Services during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,747,000. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barrett Business Services during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,732,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Barrett Business Services by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 184,662 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $7,599,000 after acquiring an additional 34,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chatham Capital Group Inc. increased its stake 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BBSI shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Barrett Business Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Sunday, September 7th. Barrington Research boosted their target price on Barrett Business Services from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Barrett Business Services presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.00.

Barrett Business Services Stock Performance

Shares of BBSI stock traded down $0.87 on Tuesday, hitting $45.37. 61,609 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 145,974. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 22.35, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01. Barrett Business Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.81 and a 1-year high of $49.65. The company's fifty day moving average is $46.49 and its 200 day moving average is $43.04.

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

Barrett Business Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Barrett Business Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Barrett Business Services

In related news, Director Thomas J. Carley sold 12,646 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.62, for a total value of $602,202.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 94,692 shares in the company, valued at $4,509,233.04. This trade represents a 11.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary Kramer sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.35, for a total value of $3,868,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 287,040 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,878,384. This represents a 21.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 112,101 shares of company stock valued at $5,328,702. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

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.