Sterling Capital Management LLC Acquires 2,148 Shares of Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI)

Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI) by 55.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,044 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,148 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Robert Half were worth $426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Robert Half by 72.6% in the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,079,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $569,288,000 after purchasing an additional 3,398,257 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Robert Half by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,554,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $602,867,000 after acquiring an additional 1,271,237 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Robert Half in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,257,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Robert Half by 293.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 831,359 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,578,000 after purchasing an additional 619,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in Robert Half by 124.2% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 724,419 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $50,956,000 after purchasing an additional 401,369 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on RHI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Robert Half from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BNP Paribas raised Robert Half from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.50 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Robert Half from $90.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Robert Half from $80.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Robert Half from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Robert Half has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.92.

Robert Half Stock Down 5.3 %

Shares of RHI stock opened at $45.40 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 18.61 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $54.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.66. Robert Half Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.97 and a 52 week high of $78.41.

Robert Half (NYSE:RHI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.01). Robert Half had a return on equity of 17.20% and a net margin of 4.34%. Analysts anticipate that Robert Half Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Robert Half Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from Robert Half’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.20%. Robert Half’s dividend payout ratio is currently 96.72%.

Robert Half Profile

Robert Half Inc provides talent solutions and business consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through Contract Talent Solutions, Permanent Placement Talent Solutions, and Protiviti segments. The Contract Talent Solutions segment provides contract engagement professionals in the fields of finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal and administrative, and customer support.