Citigroup Lowers Hays (LON:HAS) Price Target to GBX 75

Key Points

• Citigroup cut its price target on Hays from GBX 90 to GBX 75 while keeping a "buy" rating; that target implies about a 133.6% upside from the previous close.
• Consensus among five analysts is a Hold with a mean price target of GBX 71.60 (three Buys, one Hold, one Sell).
• Shares fell to GBX 32.10 (down ~2.8%) on unusually high volume, while insiders purchased 36,737 shares in the past quarter and insiders own 0.76% of the stock.

Hays (LON:HAS - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by equities research analysts at Citigroup from GBX 90 to GBX 75 in a report issued on Thursday,Digital Look reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Citigroup's price target would indicate a potential upside of 133.64% from the company's previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on HAS. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a GBX 28 price target on shares of Hays in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Hays from GBX 100 to GBX 90 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of GBX 71.60.

Hays Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of LON HAS traded down GBX 0.94 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting GBX 32.10. The stock had a trading volume of 89,662,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,218,219. 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 1 year low of GBX 28.68 and a 1 year high of GBX 77.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 36.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 48.07. The firm has a market cap of £513.24 million, a P/E ratio of -48.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.82.

Hays (LON:HAS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The company reported GBX 0.46 EPS for the quarter. Hays had a negative net margin of 0.16% and a negative return on equity of 2.24%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Hays will post 4.0966184 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Hays

In related news, insider Helen Cunningham purchased 6,237 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 32 per share, for a total transaction of £1,995.84. Also, insider Michael Findlay purchased 25,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of GBX 39 per share, for a total transaction of £9,945. Insiders have purchased a total of 36,737 shares of company stock worth $1,389,084 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.76% of the company's stock.

Hays Company Profile

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.