By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:ASGN – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,960,000 shares, an increase of 6.5% from the December 15th total of 1,840,000 shares. Currently, 4.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 348,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.6 days.
Insider Activity
In other news, Director Carol Lindstrom sold 1,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.02, for a total value of $98,601.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $425,938.58. The trade was a 18.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Randolph C. Blazer sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 85,923 shares in the company, 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 a total of 12,260 shares of company stock valued at $1,168,469 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Trading of ASGN
Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASGN. Cim Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ASGN in the third quarter worth about $205,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in ASGN by 17.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in ASGN by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 11,823 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,102,000 after acquiring an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 39,607 shares in the last quarter. 95.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
ASGN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded ASGN from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $96.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of ASGN in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of ASGN from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.75.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on ASGN
ASGN Trading Down 0.9 %
Shares of ASGN stock traded down $0.81 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $88.50. The stock had a trading volume of 311,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 283,786. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. ASGN has a 1 year low of $82.04 and a 1 year high of $106.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.40 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.57.
ASGN (NYSE:ASGN – Get Free Report) 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.68 earnings per share. ASGN’s revenue was down 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ASGN will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.
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.
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