CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ) Short Interest Up 13.3% in October

CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,060,000 shares, an increase of 13.3% from the October 15th total of 935,400 shares. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 312,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.

CBIZ Price Performance

CBZ stock traded up $0.39 on Monday, reaching $76.87. 40,426 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 316,285. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.76 and a 200-day moving average of $72.93. CBIZ has a twelve month low of $57.01 and a twelve month high of $86.36. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a PE ratio of 32.51 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

CBIZ (NYSE:CBZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.08. CBIZ had a return on equity of 15.12% and a net margin of 7.08%. The firm had revenue of $438.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $440.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. CBIZ’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that CBIZ will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CBZ. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in CBIZ by 2,980.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 462 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in CBIZ by 45.5% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 707 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in CBIZ by 55.8% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 961 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in CBIZ by 6,335.3% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in CBIZ during the second quarter worth $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CBZ shares. Sidoti raised CBIZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $86.00 in a report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com raised CBIZ from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th.

About CBIZ

CBIZ, Inc provides financial, insurance, and advisory services in the United States and Canada. It operates through Financial Services, Benefits and Insurance Services, and National Practices segments. The Financial Services segment offers accounting and tax, financial advisory, valuation, risk and advisory, and government healthcare consulting services.