Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,120,000 shares, a drop of 12.4% from the August 15th total of 2,420,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 690,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Booz Allen Hamilton from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $136.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Booz Allen Hamilton from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $159.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Melody C. Barnes sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.31, for a total transaction of $149,185.71. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,123 shares in the company, valued at $2,597,207.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.59% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Booz Allen Hamilton

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton in the fourth quarter worth about $188,129,000. AGF Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 63.4% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,750,610 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $269,419,000 after buying an additional 679,280 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 29.4% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,076,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $159,741,000 after buying an additional 244,391 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 2.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,406,880 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,544,798,000 after acquiring an additional 222,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 184.0% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 335,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,613,000 after acquiring an additional 217,349 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.82% of the company’s stock.

Booz Allen Hamilton Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE BAH traded down $0.95 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $154.51. 425,323 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 665,405. The firm has a market cap of $19.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.59, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $152.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $150.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.07, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.55. Booz Allen Hamilton has a 12-month low of $106.90 and a 12-month high of $164.43.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The business services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.52 by ($0.14). Booz Allen Hamilton had a return on equity of 65.80% and a net margin of 5.57%. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.92 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Booz Allen Hamilton will post 5.96 EPS for the current year.

Booz Allen Hamilton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. Booz Allen Hamilton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.35%.

About Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation provides management and technology consulting, analytics, engineering, digital solutions, mission operations, and cyber services to governments, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations in the United States and internationally. It focuses on artificial intelligence services comprising of machine learning, predictive modeling, automation and decision analytics, and quantum computing.