ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) Hits New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN) hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $82.75 and last traded at $83.42, with a volume of 167905 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $87.17.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

ASGN Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.06 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a current ratio of 2.25.

ASGN (NYSE:ASGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.08. ASGN had a return on equity of 13.65% and a net margin of 4.37%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.68 earnings per share. ASGN’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that ASGN Incorporated will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of ASGN

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Reinhart Partners LLC. increased its holdings in shares of ASGN by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 588,999 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $54,912,000 after acquiring an additional 39,607 shares during the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ASGN by 43.8% in the second quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 9,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 2,868 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of ASGN by 17.3% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 5,414 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of ASGN by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 11,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,102,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cim Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of 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.