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

TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 828,800 shares, a drop of 17.9% from the December 15th total of 1,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 181,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days. Currently, 2.9% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TBI. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 239,740 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of TrueBlue by 230.1% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 46,687 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 32,542 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 33.1% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 386,432 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,049,000 after purchasing an additional 96,072 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of TrueBlue by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 665,901 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,254,000 after buying an additional 1,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in TrueBlue during the third quarter worth $227,000. 97.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on TBI. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on TrueBlue from $11.00 to $10.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TrueBlue from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 27th.

TrueBlue Trading Up 3.9 %

TrueBlue stock traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $8.06. The stock had a trading volume of 103,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 126,740. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $7.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.31. The company has a market capitalization of $238.25 million, a P/E ratio of -2.10, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.43. TrueBlue has a 12 month low of $6.63 and a 12 month high of $14.91.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The business services provider reported ($0.11) earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $386.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.16 earnings per share. TrueBlue’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that TrueBlue will post -0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TrueBlue Company Profile

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.