Hays (LON:HAS) Shares Down 12.8% – Should You Sell?

Posted by Francis Steltz on Oct 12th, 2026

Hays plc (LON:HAS – Get Free Report) fell 12.8% during trading on Monday. The stock traded as low as GBX 56 and last traded at GBX 56. Approximately 6,616,393 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 13,146,817 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 64.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HAS has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a GBX 33 target price on shares of Hays in a research note on Friday, July 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Hays from GBX 60 to GBX 95 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Hays from GBX 60 to GBX 85 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Hays from GBX 33 to GBX 65 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a GBX 45 target price on shares of Hays in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of GBX 64.60.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Hays

Hays Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 60.68, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market cap of £880.95 million, a PE ratio of -15.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of GBX 66.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 47.41.

Hays (LON:HAS – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported GBX (3.64) EPS for the quarter. Hays had a negative net margin of 0.91% and a negative return on equity of 13.31%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Hays plc will post 4.10 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Hays

In related news, insider James Hilton sold 63,122 shares of Hays stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 67, for a total transaction of £42,291.74. 0.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.