Hays (LON:HAS) Given “Underperform” Rating at Jefferies Financial Group

Hays (LON:HAS)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued on Thursday,London Stock Exchange reports. They presently have a GBX 28 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential downside of 12.39% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Citigroup cut their price target on Hays from GBX 90 to GBX 75 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of GBX 71.60.

Hays Price Performance

Shares of HAS traded up GBX 0.54 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching GBX 31.96. The stock had a trading volume of 1,324,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,130,592. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 65.55, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.27. Hays has a 12 month low of GBX 28.68 and a 12 month high of GBX 74.10. The stock has a market capitalization of £511.05 million, a PE ratio of -48.42, a PEG ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average is GBX 32.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 44.70.

Hays (LON:HAS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The company reported GBX 0.46 earnings per share for the quarter. Hays had a negative return on equity of 2.24% and a negative net margin of 0.16%. Research analysts expect that Hays will post 4.0966184 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hays

In related news, insider Michael Findlay acquired 25,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of GBX 39 per share, for a total transaction of £9,945. Also, insider Helen Cunningham bought 6,237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of GBX 32 per share, with a total value of £1,995.84. Insiders have purchased a total of 522,289 shares of company stock worth $15,955,748 in the last three months. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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