Royal Bank Of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Hays (LON:HAS) Stock

Hays (LON:HAS) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from GBX 60 to GBX 85 in a research note issued on Monday,London Stock Exchange reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 15.80% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on HAS. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a GBX 33 price objective on shares of Hays in a research note on Friday, July 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a GBX 28 price objective on shares of Hays in a research report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of GBX 62.20.

Hays Price Performance

HAS stock opened at GBX 73.40 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of £1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -111.21, a PEG ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 60.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is GBX 50.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is GBX 41.10. Hays has a 12-month low of GBX 28.68 and a 12-month high of GBX 74.30.

Hays (LON:HAS) last released its 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%. On average, analysts expect that Hays will post 4.0966184 earnings per share for the current year.

Hays announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Hays

In related news, insider Joe Hurd purchased 5,672 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 35 per share, with a total value of £1,985.20. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

About Hays