Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.50.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BBSI shares. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Barrett Business Services from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Barrett Business Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Barrett Business Services from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Barrett Business Services

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Barrett Business Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 63.0% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,456 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 152.6% in the fourth quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,920 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Barrett Business Services by 270.2% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,999 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Barrett Business Services Price Performance

NASDAQ:BBSI opened at $37.91 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.77. Barrett Business Services has a 52 week low of $25.33 and a 52 week high of $49.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $931.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.95.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $307.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $306.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.04) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Barrett Business Services will post 1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Barrett Business Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.78%.

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.