Barrett Business Services, Inc. $BBSI Shares Acquired by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) by 1,176.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,742 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 114,051 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.48% of Barrett Business Services worth $5,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its stake in shares of Barrett Business Services by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 38,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,572,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. grew its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 2.5% in the second quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 11,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Lakewood Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 2.9% in the second quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC now owns 10,912 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 24,182 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 17,036 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barrett Business Services Stock Down 1.3%

BBSI stock opened at $36.51 on Monday. Barrett Business Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.01 and a fifty-two week high of $49.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $935.39 million, a PE ratio of 17.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.27.

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $318.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $319.27 million. Barrett Business Services had a net margin of 4.48% and a return on equity of 24.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Barrett Business Services, Inc. will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Barrett Business Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 21st. Barrett Business Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.38%.

Insider Transactions at Barrett Business Services

In other Barrett Business Services news, Director Joseph Stephen Clabby purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $34.83 per share, for a total transaction of $34,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,391 shares in the company, valued at $536,068.53. The trade was a 6.95% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. CJS Securities upgraded shares of Barrett Business Services to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Barrington Research set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Barrett Business Services and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered Barrett Business Services from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Barrett Business Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

Barrett Business Services Profile

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.