Royal Bank Of Canada Reiterates "Outperform" Rating for Hays (LON:HAS)

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reiterated its “outperform” rating on Hays and kept a GBX 60 price target, implying about 25.5% upside from the current share price.
• Other analysts remain mixed on the stock: Citigroup has a buy rating with a GBX 75 target, while UBS is neutral and Jefferies is underperform; the overall consensus is currently Hold.
• Hays shares opened at GBX 47.80, and the company recently authorized a share buyback program while insiders have also been buying shares, which may signal management confidence in the stock.

Hays (LON:HAS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reiterated by research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,London Stock Exchange reports. They currently have a GBX 60 target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's target price suggests a potential upside of 25.52% from the company's current price.

HAS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Hays from GBX 90 to GBX 75 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a GBX 33 price objective on shares of Hays in a report on Friday, July 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a GBX 28 price objective on shares of Hays in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of GBX 57.20.

Hays Stock Performance

Shares of LON:HAS opened at GBX 47.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of £750.45 million, a P/E ratio of -72.42, a PEG ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.77. 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 one year low of GBX 28.68 and a one year high of GBX 68.10. The business's 50-day simple moving average is GBX 33.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 38.92.

Hays announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, June 1st that authorizes the company to buyback 0 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Mark Dearnley purchased 485,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 30 per share, for a total transaction of £145,650. Also, insider Joe Hurd purchased 5,672 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 35 per share, for a total transaction of £1,985.20. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 491,224 shares of company stock valued at $14,765,184. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

About Hays

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