Jefferies Financial Group Reiterates "Hold" Rating for WNS (NYSE:WNS)

WNS (NYSE:WNS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $76.50 price objective on the business services provider's stock, down from their previous price objective of $80.00. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective suggests a potential upside of 2.20% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC downgraded WNS from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. William Blair downgraded WNS from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barrington Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of WNS in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WNS has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $64.94.

WNS Price Performance

WNS stock traded down $0.05 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $74.85. The stock had a trading volume of 5,584,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,674. The company's 50 day moving average price is $59.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.34. WNS has a 1-year low of $42.62 and a 1-year high of $75.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76.

WNS (NYSE:WNS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.04. WNS had a net margin of 12.94% and a return on equity of 23.26%. The firm had revenue of $336.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.62 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WNS will post 3.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WNS

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hhlr Advisors LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of WNS in the fourth quarter valued at about $72,576,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in WNS by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,483,569 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $70,307,000 after purchasing an additional 312,519 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in WNS by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,408,501 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $86,609,000 after purchasing an additional 35,074 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in WNS by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,405,672 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $86,435,000 after purchasing an additional 41,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in WNS by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,112,743 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $52,733,000 after purchasing an additional 53,433 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.36% of the company's stock.

About WNS

WNS (Holdings) Limited, a business process management (BPM) company, provides data, voice, analytical, and business transformation services worldwide. The company operates through TSLU, MRHP, HCLS, and BFSI segments. It engages in diversified business, including manufacturing, retail, consumer packaged goods, media and entertainment, and telecommunication; travel and leisure, utilities, shipping, and logistics; healthcare and life sciences; banking, financial services, and insurance; and Hi-tech and professional services, as well as procurement.