TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

TrueBlue, Inc. (NYSE:TBI) saw a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 884,600 shares, a decrease of 46.1% from the March 15th total of 1,640,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 446,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

TrueBlue Price Performance

NYSE TBI opened at $10.87 on Thursday. TrueBlue has a 1 year low of $10.15 and a 1 year high of $19.06. The company has a market capitalization of $341.05 million, a PE ratio of -24.14 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $12.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $13.43.

TrueBlue (NYSE:TBI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The business services provider reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.15) by $0.23. TrueBlue had a negative net margin of 0.74% and a positive return on equity of 2.39%. The company had revenue of $492.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $472.53 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. TrueBlue’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that TrueBlue will post -0.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On TrueBlue

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TBI. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $10,392,000 after buying an additional 1,017 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 22.4% in 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 in the first quarter valued at about $272,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 6.1% in 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 raised its holdings in shares of TrueBlue by 63.7% in 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. 97.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.