Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Short Interest Update

Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 536,800 shares, a decrease of 7.5% from the January 15th total of 580,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 119,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Thomas B. Cusick sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.41, for a total value of $130,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,205,756.16. This represents a 9.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barrett Business Services

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Barrett Business Services by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,110,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $91,682,000 after acquiring an additional 276,098 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted 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 worth $70,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193,839 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Barrett Business Services by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 705,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,471,000 after purchasing an additional 32,632 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Barrett Business Services by 19.3% during the third 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. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Barrett Business Services by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 393,267 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,084,000 after buying an additional 15,900 shares during the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Barrett Business Services Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of BBSI opened at $41.52 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.70. Barrett Business Services has a 12 month low of $27.89 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on BBSI. StockNews.com upgraded Barrett Business Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective 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. Finally, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th.

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.