Alliancebernstein L.P. Acquires 17,338 Shares of Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI)

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Robert Half Inc. (NYSE:RHI) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,217,999 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,338 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Robert Half were worth $226,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Robert Half by 72.6% during the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 8,079,597 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $569,288,000 after purchasing an additional 3,398,257 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Robert Half by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,554,276 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $602,867,000 after buying an additional 1,271,237 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Robert Half during the fourth quarter worth about $60,257,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 619,982 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Robert Half in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $41,096,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.41% of the company’s stock.

Robert Half Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of RHI stock opened at $54.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37 and a beta of 1.22. Robert Half Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.55 and a 12-month high of $79.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.38.

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

Robert Half Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This is a boost from Robert Half’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Robert Half’s dividend payout ratio is presently 96.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RHI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays raised Robert Half from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Robert Half from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Robert Half from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $71.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Robert Half from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial raised Robert Half from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.92.

About Robert Half

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.