Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Barrett Business Services from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

Barrett Business Services Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:BBSI opened at $40.29 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.64 and a 200-day moving average of $39.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.41. Barrett Business Services has a 52 week low of $28.42 and a 52 week high of $44.97.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Barrett Business Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Thomas B. Cusick sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.41, for a total value of $130,230.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,205,756.16. The trade was a 9.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Barrett Business Services

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 236.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,834,452 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $68,810,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289,147 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 272.7% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,631,644 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $70,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193,839 shares during the period. 4D Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Barrett Business Services in the 4th quarter valued at $5,430,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Barrett Business Services in the 4th quarter worth about $3,849,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 546,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $20,500,000 after buying an additional 88,350 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.