Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

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

Insider Transactions at Barrett Business Services

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

Institutional Trading of Barrett Business Services

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 276,098 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 272.7% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,631,644 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $70,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193,839 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Barrett Business Services by 4.8% in the third 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 holdings in 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 last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings 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 and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BBSI has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Barrett Business Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Barrett Business Services from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Barrett Business Services in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th.

Barrett Business Services Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ BBSI traded down $0.68 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $40.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 141,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 90,290. Barrett Business Services has a fifty-two week low of $27.89 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.76.

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.