ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) was upgraded by stock analysts at BMO Capital Markets from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Finviz reports. The brokerage currently has a $100.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $96.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.16% from the stock’s current price.

ASGN has been the topic of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of ASGN in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of ASGN from $95.00 to $88.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.89.

ASGN Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ASGN opened at $84.63 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $93.72 and a 200-day moving average of $93.39. ASGN has a one year low of $83.71 and a one year high of $106.42. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.43 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 2.25.

ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.08. ASGN had a net margin of 4.37% and a return on equity of 13.65%. The firm 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 firm posted $1.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ASGN will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Randolph C. Blazer sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.03, for a total value of $950,300.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 85,923 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,165,262.69. This represents a 10.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Theodore S. Hanson sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.64, for a total transaction 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 approximately $28,781,512.20. This represents a 0.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,763 shares of company stock worth $1,398,986 in the last three months. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in ASGN by 17.3% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,414 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ASGN by 12.1% in the third quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 10,559 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $984,000 after purchasing an additional 1,142 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its holdings in shares of ASGN by 7.2% in 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. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of ASGN by 28.2% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 11,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of ASGN by 1,851.6% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 19,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,753,000 after purchasing an additional 18,868 shares during the last quarter. 95.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ASGN Company Profile

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.