BMO Capital Markets Upgrades TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) to “Outperform”

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI – Get Rating) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report report published on Monday, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has $20.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $18.00.

A number of other research firms have also commented on TBI. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on TrueBlue from $21.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on TrueBlue in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock.

TrueBlue Price Performance

NYSE TBI opened at $17.14 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $531.68 million, a PE ratio of 11.99 and a beta of 1.44. TrueBlue has a one year low of $14.20 and a one year high of $22.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.56.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 24th. The business services provider reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $465.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $465.30 million. TrueBlue had a return on equity of 13.39% and a net margin of 2.19%. TrueBlue’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.44 EPS.

Insider Transactions at TrueBlue

In related news, EVP Garrett Ferencz purchased 4,944 shares of TrueBlue stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.17 per share, for a total transaction of $75,000.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,024,976.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 4.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its stake in TrueBlue by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 42,632 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in TrueBlue by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,404 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 553 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in TrueBlue by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 11,494 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the period. Credit Suisse AG raised its stake in TrueBlue by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 43,134 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $768,000 after buying an additional 703 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in TrueBlue by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 34,306 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $609,000 after buying an additional 890 shares during the period. 96.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About TrueBlue

(Get Rating)

TrueBlue, Inc engages in the provision of staffing, recruitment process outsourcing and managed service provider solutions. It operates through the following segments: PeopleReady, PeopleManagement and PeopleScout. The PeopleReady segment offers staffing solutions for blue-collar, contingent on-demand and skilled labor to a broad range of industries that include retail, manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, energy, construction, hospitality and others.