Short Interest in Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH) Rises By 10.6%

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH) saw a large increase in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,880,000 shares, an increase of 10.6% from the July 15th total of 1,700,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 762,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Horacio Rozanski sold 34,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.15, for a total value of $5,329,119.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 579,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,256,703.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Horacio Rozanski sold 34,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.15, for a total transaction of $5,329,119.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 579,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,256,703.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Melody C. Barnes sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.31, for a total transaction of $149,185.71. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,597,207.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 59,296 shares of company stock valued at $9,119,212. 1.59% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Booz Allen Hamilton

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAH. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Booz Allen Hamilton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,037,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Booz Allen Hamilton by 6.8% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 295,447 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,856,000 after purchasing an additional 18,815 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in Booz Allen Hamilton in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,044,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Booz Allen Hamilton by 142.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,248,000 after purchasing an additional 16,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Booz Allen Hamilton by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 77,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,874,000 after purchasing an additional 19,432 shares during the last quarter. 91.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BAH shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $168.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $153.00 to $142.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Booz Allen Hamilton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.56.

Booz Allen Hamilton Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of BAH traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $147.67. 561,580 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 681,199. The company has a market cap of $19.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.57. Booz Allen Hamilton has a fifty-two week low of $106.90 and a fifty-two week high of $164.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.55. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $151.64 and its 200-day moving average is $149.04.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.92 billion. Booz Allen Hamilton had a return on equity of 65.80% and a net margin of 5.57%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Booz Allen Hamilton will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booz Allen Hamilton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Booz Allen Hamilton’s payout ratio is 44.35%.

About Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation provides management and technology consulting, analytics, engineering, digital solutions, mission operations, and cyber services to governments, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations in the United States and internationally. It focuses on artificial intelligence services comprising of machine learning, predictive modeling, automation and decision analytics, and quantum computing.