ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of ASGN in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of ASGN from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $96.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of ASGN from $95.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, ASGN presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.83.

ASGN Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ASGN stock opened at $83.34 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.25, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. ASGN has a fifty-two week low of $82.04 and a fifty-two week high of $106.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $89.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.10 and a beta of 1.38.

ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.08. ASGN had a net margin of 4.37% and a return on equity of 13.65%. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that ASGN will post 5.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Randolph C. Blazer sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.03, for a total transaction of $950,300.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 85,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,165,262.69. The trade was a 10.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Theodore S. Hanson sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.64, for a total value of $119,568.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 288,855 shares in the company, valued at $28,781,512.20. This represents a 0.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,260 shares of company stock worth $1,168,469. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ASGN

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its stake in ASGN by 7.2% during the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 588,999 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $54,912,000 after purchasing an additional 39,607 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of ASGN by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,559 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $984,000 after acquiring an additional 1,142 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ASGN by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,414 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of ASGN by 28.2% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 11,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Finally, Cim Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in ASGN during the 3rd quarter worth about $205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.36% of the company’s stock.

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.