Magnetar Financial LLC Invests $4.74 Million in Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 36,829 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,740,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,822 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Booz Allen Hamilton by 5.4% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,688 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Booz Allen Hamilton by 23.5% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 16,675 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,714,000 after purchasing an additional 3,177 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 10.9% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 61,203 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,961,000 after purchasing an additional 6,007 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton in the third quarter valued at approximately $316,000. 91.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BAH. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $210.00 to $158.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Booz Allen Hamilton from $200.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Booz Allen Hamilton to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Booz Allen Hamilton from $142.00 to $140.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from $180.00 to $164.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $158.27.

Booz Allen Hamilton Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of BAH opened at $112.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.57. Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. has a 1-year low of $101.82 and a 1-year high of $190.59. The company has a market capitalization of $14.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.75.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.07. Booz Allen Hamilton had a net margin of 7.39% and a return on equity of 68.97%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. will post 6.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Booz Allen Hamilton Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Booz Allen Hamilton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Booz Allen Hamilton’s dividend payout ratio is 32.79%.

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.