Short Interest in TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) Drops By 17.9%

TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 828,800 shares, a drop of 17.9% from the December 15th total of 1,010,000 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 181,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TrueBlue

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in TrueBlue in the third quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of TrueBlue in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $149,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of TrueBlue in the 2nd quarter valued at $208,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of TrueBlue during the third quarter worth $227,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in TrueBlue by 19.4% during the second quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 22,725 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 3,689 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.15% of the company’s stock.

TrueBlue Trading Up 3.9 %

TBI traded up $0.30 during trading on Thursday, reaching $8.06. 103,700 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 126,740. TrueBlue has a one year low of $6.63 and a one year high of $14.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $7.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $238.25 million, a PE ratio of -2.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.43.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The business services provider reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $382.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $386.07 million. TrueBlue had a negative net margin of 6.97% and a negative return on equity of 2.69%. TrueBlue’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that TrueBlue will post -0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TBI. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of TrueBlue from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised TrueBlue from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 27th.

About TrueBlue

TrueBlue, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides specialized workforce solutions in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Puerto Rico. It operates through three segments: PeopleReady, PeopleManagement, and PeopleScout. The company PeopleReady segment provides general, industrial, and skilled trade contingent staffing services for construction, transportation, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and renewable energy industries.