Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYA) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Sunday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barrington Research lowered their price target on shares of Kelly Services from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Kelly Services from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Kelly Services in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

Kelly Services Price Performance

Shares of Kelly Services stock opened at $9.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $348.10 million, a P/E ratio of -1.35, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.11. Kelly Services has a 12 month low of $7.98 and a 12 month high of $14.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.29). The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Kelly Services had a negative net margin of 5.98% and a positive return on equity of 4.05%. As a group, analysts predict that Kelly Services will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kelly Services

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kelly Services in the second quarter valued at about $4,807,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Kelly Services in the 2nd quarter valued at about $727,000. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Kelly Services by 56.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 90,287 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after acquiring an additional 32,669 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Kelly Services by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 561,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,573,000 after acquiring an additional 58,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Kelly Services during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,349,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.34% of the company’s stock.

Key Kelly Services News

Here are the key news stories impacting Kelly Services this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director James Christopher Hunt bought 1,000 shares at about $9.58, raising his stake ~20% to 5,976 shares — a standard bullish signal that insiders see value at current levels. Form 4 filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Noble Financial published detailed quarter-by-quarter EPS assumptions (Q2: $0.30, Q3: $0.24, Q4: $0.71) and a FY2027 projection of $2.07 — useful inputs for modeling but not uniformly bullish. Noble estimates (MarketBeat)
• Neutral Sentiment: Noble Financial also commented on Kelly’s recent Q1 results and outlook in a note; read-throughs provide context for the estimate revisions. Noble Financial comments
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data for February appears inconsistent/erroneous (zeros/NaN); no clear signal from short interest at present. Short interest note
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research downgraded Kelly from “hold” to “strong sell,” a headline-negative that can pressure sentiment and trading flows. Zacks downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Noble Financial cut FY2026 EPS from $1.83 to $1.36 — the downward revision (and Noble’s lower-than-consensus FY2026/FY2027 path) reinforces concerns about near-term profitability after Kelly’s recent Q1 miss (EPS $0.16 vs. $0.45 estimate, revenue $1.05B vs. $1.03B). Estimate cut (MarketBeat)

About Kelly Services

Kelly Services, Inc is a global workforce solutions provider specializing in talent acquisition and staffing services across a wide range of industries. The company offers temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing solutions, and consulting services to help organizations address their workforce needs. Its service offerings are designed to support clients in areas such as administrative support, information technology, engineering, science, education, healthcare, and industrial sectors.

Founded in 1946 by William Russell Kelly, Kelly Services has grown from a small local staffing firm into an international organization.