Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) Trading Down 3.7% - What's Next?

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 3.7% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $112.41 and last traded at $112.26. Approximately 1,475,107 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 20% from the average daily volume of 1,224,397 shares. The stock had previously closed at $116.52.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $159.00 target price for the company. Raymond James upgraded shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $150.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut Booz Allen Hamilton from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Booz Allen Hamilton to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, William Blair lowered Booz Allen Hamilton from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Booz Allen Hamilton currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $158.27.

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Booz Allen Hamilton Stock Performance

The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $120.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.53. The company has a market cap of $13.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.57.

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

Booz Allen Hamilton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Booz Allen Hamilton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. Booz Allen Hamilton's payout ratio is 32.79%.

Institutional Trading of Booz Allen Hamilton

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Booz Allen Hamilton by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,518,386 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $581,516,000 after acquiring an additional 501,725 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Booz Allen Hamilton by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,804,642 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $360,957,000 after buying an additional 371,390 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Booz Allen Hamilton by 2.5% during the third 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 period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 179.7% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,767,129 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $227,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 61.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,552,217 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $199,770,000 after acquiring an additional 590,655 shares during the period. 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.