Wall Street Zen Upgrades ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) to "Buy"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen has upgraded ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating, signaling increased confidence from some equity analysts.
• Despite this upgrade, other analysts have lowered their price targets significantly, with Truist Financial's target dropping from $105.00 to $75.00 and Canaccord Genuity cutting its target from $115.00 to $55.00.
• ASGN reported earnings of $1.17 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations, although its quarterly revenue declined by 1.4% compared to the same period last year.

ASGN (NYSE:ASGN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on ASGN. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of ASGN from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of ASGN from $105.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $42.00 price target (down from $53.00) on shares of ASGN in a report on Monday, July 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $55.00 price target (down from $115.00) on shares of ASGN in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of ASGN from $56.00 to $51.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ASGN presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $61.67.

ASGN Stock Performance

ASGN traded up $0.68 on Friday, hitting $51.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 198,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 529,917. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $51.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.29. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 0.98. ASGN has a 12 month low of $46.63 and a 12 month high of $101.66. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

ASGN (NYSE:ASGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.09. ASGN had a net margin of 3.50% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $994.64 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. ASGN's revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that ASGN will post 5.15 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of ASGN

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASGN. Pinebridge Investments L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of ASGN by 42.7% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 21,983 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,832,000 after acquiring an additional 6,576 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ASGN by 47,970.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 65,856 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,500,000 after acquiring an additional 65,719 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of ASGN by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 665,987 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $41,971,000 after acquiring an additional 78,794 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in ASGN in the 1st quarter worth $396,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP raised its position in ASGN by 105.5% in the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 7,378 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,788 shares during the period. 95.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About ASGN

ASGN Incorporated engages in the provision of information technology (IT) services and solutions in the technology, digital, and creative fields for commercial and government sectors in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It operates through two segments: Commercial and Federal Government. The Commercial Segment provides consulting, creative digital marketing, and permanent placement services primarily to enterprise clients.