ASGN (NYSE:EFOR) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

ASGN Incorporated (NYSE:EFOR)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after Truist Financial upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $18.31, but opened at $20.03. Truist Financial now has a $36.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $33.00. ASGN shares last traded at $21.13, with a volume of 215,954 shares changing hands.

EFOR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded ASGN from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of ASGN from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of ASGN from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of ASGN from $35.00 to $17.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of ASGN from $54.00 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $29.83.

Insider Transactions at ASGN

In other ASGN news, Director Brian J. Callaghan bought 5,121 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.27 per share, with a total value of $103,802.67. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 328,950 shares in the company, valued at $6,667,816.50. The trade was a 1.58% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Theodore S. Hanson bought 51,965 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.24 per share, with a total value of $999,806.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 376,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,250,459.32. The trade was a 16.00% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 91,375 shares of company stock valued at $1,770,367. Company insiders own 14.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ASGN

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EFOR. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of ASGN by 97.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position in ASGN by 119.0% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in ASGN in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of ASGN by 190.8% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its position in shares of ASGN by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 88,901 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,282,000 after purchasing an additional 3,048 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.36% of the company’s stock.

ASGN Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market cap of $869.68 million, a P/E ratio of 9.36 and a beta of 0.52.

ASGN (NYSE:EFOR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.28). ASGN had a net margin of 2.46% and a return on equity of 10.30%. The firm had revenue of $968.30 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. ASGN’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. ASGN has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.900 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ASGN Incorporated will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

About ASGN

ASGN is a provider of professional services that connects skilled talent with organizations seeking technology, digital, creative and engineering expertise. The firm focuses on staffing and workforce solutions, delivering contract and permanent placement services as well as project-based consulting and managed services to support clients’ technical and operational needs.

Its offerings commonly include IT consulting, digital transformation support, application development and maintenance, data and analytics, cybersecurity, cloud services and engineering resources.