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

Hays plc (LON:HAS)’s stock price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 42.45 and traded as high as GBX 76.45. Hays shares last traded at GBX 74.10, with a volume of 9,246,117 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on HAS shares. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a GBX 33 price objective on shares of Hays in a research report on Friday, July 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a GBX 28 price objective on shares of Hays in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Hays from GBX 60 to GBX 85 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hays has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of GBX 62.20.

Hays Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of £1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -104.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 60.68, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 56.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 42.62.

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

Hays announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, June 1st that allows the company to repurchase 0 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hays

In other Hays news, insider Joe Hurd acquired 5,672 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 35 per share, for a total transaction of £1,985.20. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Hays