Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stake in Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. (NYSE:BAH) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,834,021 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 61,094 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.13% of Booz Allen Hamilton worth $1,651,739,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Booz Allen Hamilton by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 1,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 4,160 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of Booz Allen Hamilton by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 10,171 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,309,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Booz Allen Hamilton by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,579 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,134,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on BAH shares. William Blair cut Booz Allen Hamilton from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Booz Allen Hamilton to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Raymond James raised shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Booz Allen Hamilton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Booz Allen Hamilton in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $159.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned 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 stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.27.

Booz Allen Hamilton Price Performance

BAH stock opened at $105.80 on Friday. Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Co. has a 1 year low of $101.05 and a 1 year high of $190.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.40 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $140.72.

Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The business services provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.07. Booz Allen Hamilton had a return on equity of 68.97% and a net margin of 7.39%. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. This is a positive change from Booz Allen Hamilton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Booz Allen Hamilton’s payout ratio is presently 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.