Bowman Consulting Group heads into the final week of June with two signals pointing in opposite directions: options traders have turned notably less defensive, while the company's founder-CEO has spent the past several months consistently reducing his stake.
The sharpest move this week is in options positioning. The put/call ratio has collapsed to 0.88 — almost 1.7 standard deviations below its 20-day average of 1.58. That's a dramatic shift. For most of May and into early June, the PCR ran above 2.0, reflecting heavy demand for downside protection. That hedging has unwound fast, and what remains looks more bullish than the stock's recent price action warrants. The stock is down 6.3% on the week to $29.36 and off 7.5% over the past month — yet options traders are pulling put protection rather than adding it.
The broader positioning picture is relaxed. Short interest is a modest 3.3% of free float, down slightly on the week and essentially stable over the past month despite a 24% jump versus 30 days ago — that monthly move reflects a step-change in early June, not an accelerating trend. Borrowing costs are low at 0.55% and borrow availability is wide at 774%, meaning shares remain easy to locate and there is no meaningful squeeze pressure in the lending market. The ORTEX short score of 43.9 is middling, ranking in the 26th percentile of the universe — not a stock where shorts are pressing hard.
The insider angle is harder to ignore. Founder, Chairman, and CEO Gary Bowman has sold shares on five separate occasions since mid-February, offloading more than $1.4 million worth of stock at prices ranging from $30.71 to $34.07. The most recent cluster was in April, with two tranches totalling $614,000 on April 22 alone. A director sold $237,000 in early June. Net insider activity over the 90-day window totals nearly $931,000 in outflows. These trades appear systematic rather than distressed — Bowman retains a 12.9% stake — but the cadence of selling at prices above current levels is notable context given the stock is now below most of those sale prices.
The Street picture is mixed but moderately constructive, though the most recent analyst data is from early May. JP Morgan lifted its target from $38 to $40 in May while maintaining a Neutral rating. Baird trimmed its target to $37 from $43 in March while keeping an Outperform. The mean target across the covering analysts is around $48, though that figure is dragged higher by older, stale Buy-side targets from B. Riley Securities set at $55 — treating the mean with caution, the more recent consensus clusters in the $37–$40 range, implying modest upside from current levels. Valuation looks undemanding: the stock trades at 15x trailing earnings and 7.5x EV/EBITDA, with the PE multiple having compressed by roughly 1.2 turns over the past 30 days. EPS momentum factors score well in the 66th–77th percentile, though the forward earnings growth rank is a weak 22nd percentile.
Among correlated peers, most outpaced BWMN this week. GVA rose 6.2% and NWPX gained 5.7%, while IESC fell 2.2% and LGN dropped 6.6% — so the sector itself is split, and Bowman's underperformance is not purely a sector story.
Next quarter's earnings are set for August 4. The two most recent prints produced a 4% one-day drop and a 2.2% one-day gain — mixed reactions on modest moves — making the options shift away from put protection the more interesting setup heading into that date, particularly if the PCR continues to drift lower while the stock remains under pressure.
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