ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $55.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on EXLS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of ExlService from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of ExlService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ExlService from $48.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.50.

ExlService Price Performance

EXLS stock opened at $46.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a PE ratio of 40.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 3.02 and a quick ratio of 3.02. ExlService has a one year low of $28.59 and a one year high of $52.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.64.

ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $501.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $489.66 million. ExlService had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 23.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. On average, analysts predict that ExlService will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at ExlService

In related news, insider Vikas Bhalla sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.11, for a total transaction of $1,152,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 135,046 shares in the company, valued at $6,226,971.06. This represents a 15.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $692,987.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,138 shares of company stock worth $2,330,561 in the last three months. 4.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in ExlService by 1.4% during 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 period. FMR LLC increased its position in ExlService by 39.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,364,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $415,588,000 after purchasing an additional 2,647,937 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in ExlService by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,704,937 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $316,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,943,471 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC increased its position in ExlService by 0.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 18,647 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in ExlService by 25.2% during the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 2,746,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $129,671,000 after purchasing an additional 552,000 shares during the period. 92.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About ExlService

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.