Hays (LON:HAS) Stock Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Hays plc (LON:HAS)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 44.15 and traded as high as GBX 65.10. Hays shares last traded at GBX 63.80, with a volume of 3,491,791 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HAS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Hays from GBX 60 to GBX 95 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and set a GBX 28 target price on shares of Hays in a research report on Friday, August 21st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a GBX 33 price objective on shares of Hays in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Hays from GBX 60 to GBX 85 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of GBX 63.20.

Hays Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 60.68. The stock has a market cap of £1.02 billion, a PE ratio of -17.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is GBX 63.95 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 44.32.

Hays (LON:HAS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported GBX (3.64) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Hays had a negative net margin of 0.91% and a negative return on equity of 13.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hays plc will post 4.0966184 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hays declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, June 1st that permits the company to buyback 0 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James Hilton sold 63,122 shares of Hays stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 67, for a total transaction of £42,291.74. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

About Hays