Hays (LON:HAS) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Hays plc (LON:HAS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as GBX 75.25 ($0.95) and last traded at GBX 76.94 ($0.97), with a volume of 53185 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 77.10 ($0.97).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a GBX 125 ($1.58) target price on shares of Hays in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a GBX 115 ($1.45) price objective on shares of Hays in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd.

Hays Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 85.38 and a 200 day moving average price of GBX 92.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.81. The firm has a market cap of £1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 1,905.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.13.

Hays Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 17th will be given a dividend of GBX 2.05 ($0.03) per share. This is a positive change from Hays’s previous dividend of $0.95. This represents a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hays

In other Hays news, insider James Hilton sold 53,038 shares of Hays stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 88 ($1.11), for a total transaction of £46,673.44 ($58,819.71). Also, insider Joe Hurd purchased 2,208 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of GBX 90 ($1.13) per share, for a total transaction of £1,987.20 ($2,504.35). 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hays Company Profile

Hays plc engages in the provision of recruitment services in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company provides qualified, professional, and skilled recruitment in permanent, temporary, and contractor formats to public and private sectors. It offers its recruitment services in the specialisms, such as accountancy and finance, banking and capital markets, construction and property, contact centers, education, energy, oil and gas, engineering and manufacturing, executive, financial services, health and social care, human resources, legal, life sciences, office support, procurement, resources and mining, retail, sales and marketing, sustainability, technology, and telecoms.