Short Interest in TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) Decreases By 17.9%

TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 828,800 shares, a decrease of 17.9% from the December 31st total of 1,010,000 shares. Approximately 2.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 181,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On TrueBlue

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TBI. Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in TrueBlue by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,082,085 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $8,538,000 after buying an additional 239,740 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in TrueBlue by 10.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,742,474 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $13,748,000 after buying an additional 158,967 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in TrueBlue by 330.7% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 143,910 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,482,000 after buying an additional 110,495 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its holdings in TrueBlue by 85.2% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 220,892 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,743,000 after buying an additional 101,589 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of TrueBlue by 33.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 386,432 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,049,000 after acquiring an additional 96,072 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TBI has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded TrueBlue from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, December 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of TrueBlue from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

TrueBlue Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of TBI traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $7.85. The company had a trading volume of 117,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 122,970. The company has a market capitalization of $231.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.04, a PEG ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 1.42. TrueBlue has a 12-month low of $6.63 and a 12-month high of $13.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.11.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The business services provider reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.04. TrueBlue had a negative return on equity of 2.69% and a negative net margin of 6.97%. The company had revenue of $382.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $386.07 million. TrueBlue's quarterly revenue was down 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that TrueBlue will post -0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

About TrueBlue

TrueBlue, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides specialized workforce solutions in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Puerto Rico. It operates through three segments: PeopleReady, PeopleManagement, and PeopleScout. The company PeopleReady segment provides general, industrial, and skilled trade contingent staffing services for construction, transportation, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and renewable energy industries.