Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, Barrington Research reissued an outperform rating and issued a $141.00 price objective on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research note on Thursday.

Barrett Business Services Trading Up 3.3 %

BBSI stock opened at $123.38 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $806.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.92, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $121.66 and a 200-day moving average of $113.49. Barrett Business Services has a 12-month low of $76.22 and a 12-month high of $130.00.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $265.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. Barrett Business Services had a return on equity of 26.72% and a net margin of 4.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Barrett Business Services will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrett Business Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Barrett Business Services’s payout ratio is currently 16.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrett Business Services

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 0.4% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 53,936 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,867,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Bridge City Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 2.4% during the first quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 14,287 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,810,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 1.4% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 28,373 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,560,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 12.7% in the third quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 3,964 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% 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.