StockNews.com Upgrades TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) to Buy

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI – Get Rating) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

TBI has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of TrueBlue from $21.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of TrueBlue from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday.

TrueBlue Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:TBI opened at $17.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $531.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $16.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.56. TrueBlue has a 12 month low of $14.20 and a 12 month high of $22.75.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 24th. The business services provider reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $465.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $465.30 million. TrueBlue had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 13.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Garrett Ferencz purchased 4,944 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $15.17 per share, with a total value of $75,000.48. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 67,566 shares in the company, valued at $1,024,976.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TrueBlue

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TBI. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in TrueBlue by 0.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 359,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 22.4% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 72,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,102,000 after buying an additional 13,334 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of TrueBlue during the first quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 6.1% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 34,824 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after buying an additional 1,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 63.7% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 17,940 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after buying an additional 6,984 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.65% of the company’s stock.

TrueBlue Company Profile

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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.