Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Raises Holdings in Barrett Business Services, Inc. $BBSI

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) by 312.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 113,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 86,191 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Barrett Business Services were worth $3,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in shares of Barrett Business Services by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 870,863 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,534,000 after acquiring an additional 208,865 shares during the period. Trigran Investments Inc. grew its stake in Barrett Business Services by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. Trigran Investments Inc. now owns 648,738 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $23,491,000 after acquiring an additional 249,052 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 193,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,994,000 after purchasing an additional 63,854 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Barrett Business Services by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 514,047 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,614,000 after purchasing an additional 37,947 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Barrett Business Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $881,000. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BBSI. Zacks Research raised Barrett Business Services from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Barrett Business Services from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of Barrett Business Services in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Barrett Business Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

Barrett Business Services Price Performance

BBSI traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.22. The stock had a trading volume of 23,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 242,446. The firm has a market capitalization of $938.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.95. Barrett Business Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.33 and a 1-year high of $49.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.78.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $306.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. Barrett Business Services’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Barrett Business Services, Inc. will post 1.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Barrett Business Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date 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.