Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) Trading Down 3.6% - Time to Sell?

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH - Get Free Report) shares traded down 3.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $103.55 and last traded at $103.46. 488,902 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 2,470,552 shares. The stock had previously closed at $107.36.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Booz Allen Hamilton to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Booz Allen Hamilton from $200.00 to $155.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. William Blair lowered Booz Allen Hamilton from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $140.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Booz Allen Hamilton currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $158.27.

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Booz Allen Hamilton Stock Down 1.8 %

The company has a market cap of $13.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.57. The stock's fifty day moving average is $115.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.59.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.07. Booz Allen Hamilton had a return on equity of 68.97% and a net margin of 7.39%. Sell-side analysts predict that Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booz Allen Hamilton Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from Booz Allen Hamilton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Booz Allen Hamilton's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Booz Allen Hamilton

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,518,386 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $581,516,000 after acquiring an additional 501,725 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,804,642 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $360,957,000 after purchasing an additional 371,390 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,341,533 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $381,898,000 after buying an additional 58,038 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 179.7% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,767,129 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $227,425,000 after buying an additional 1,135,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Booz Allen Hamilton by 61.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,552,217 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $199,770,000 after buying an additional 590,655 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.82% of the company's stock.

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.