StockNews.com Upgrades ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) to “Buy”

ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on ExlService from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of ExlService from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of ExlService from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of ExlService from $47.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ExlService presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.33.

ExlService Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of EXLS opened at $45.55 on Friday. ExlService has a 12-month low of $28.59 and a 12-month high of $52.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $45.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.28. The company has a current ratio of 3.02, a quick ratio of 3.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $501.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $489.66 million. ExlService had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 23.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that ExlService will post 1.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at ExlService

In other ExlService news, Director Jaynie M. Studenmund sold 14,580 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.53, for a total value of $692,987.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ajay Ayyappan sold 16,186 shares of ExlService stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total value of $833,579.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 40,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,110,779. This trade represents a 28.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,178 shares of company stock worth $2,354,449. Corporate insiders own 4.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ExlService

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of ExlService by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,771,191 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $699,925,000 after purchasing an additional 215,485 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of ExlService by 39.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,364,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $415,588,000 after acquiring an additional 2,647,937 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of ExlService by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 4,655,565 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $219,789,000 after acquiring an additional 18,647 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of ExlService by 25.2% during the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 2,746,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $129,671,000 after acquiring an additional 552,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ExlService during the fourth quarter worth approximately $106,452,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.92% of the company’s stock.

ExlService Company Profile

ExlService Holdings, Inc operates as a data analytics, and digital operations and solutions company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Insurance, Healthcare, Analytics, and Emerging Business segments. It also provides digital operations and solutions and analytics-driven services, such as claims processing, premium and benefit administration, agency management, account reconciliation, policy research, underwriting support, new business acquisition, policy servicing, premium audit, surveys, billing and collection, commercial and residential survey, and customer service using digital technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced automation; digital customer acquisition services using a software-as-a-service delivery model through LifePRO and LISS platforms; subrogation services; and Subrosource software platform, an end-to-end subrogation platform.