TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) Short Interest Down 17.9% in January

TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 828,800 shares, a decrease of 17.9% from the December 31st total of 1,010,000 shares. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 181,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TrueBlue

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TBI. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of TrueBlue by 10.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,742,474 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $13,748,000 after purchasing an additional 158,967 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its position in TrueBlue by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,082,085 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,538,000 after buying an additional 239,740 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of TrueBlue by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 665,901 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,968 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 6.3% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 532,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,480,000 after acquiring an additional 31,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of TrueBlue by 33.1% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 386,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,049,000 after acquiring an additional 96,072 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TBI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised TrueBlue from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 27th. 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.

TrueBlue Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TBI traded up $0.06 on Thursday, hitting $8.12. 91,305 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 122,063. TrueBlue has a 1-year low of $6.63 and a 1-year high of $14.18. The company has a market capitalization of $239.88 million, a PE ratio of -2.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $7.97 and its 200 day moving average is $8.17.

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

TrueBlue Company Profile

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.