ExlService Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXLS) Short Interest Update

ExlService Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXLS) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,020,000 shares, an increase of 25.2% from the February 28th total of 4,010,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,090,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXLS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on ExlService from $47.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on 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 boosted their price objective on ExlService from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of ExlService from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ExlService currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.38.

ExlService Price Performance

NASDAQ:EXLS traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.28. The company had a trading volume of 111,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 981,613. The company has a quick ratio of 3.02, a current ratio of 3.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $48.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.91. ExlService has a 52-week low of $28.16 and a 52-week high of $52.43. The company has a market capitalization of $7.67 billion, a PE ratio of 41.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.10.

ExlService (NASDAQ:EXLS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The business services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $481.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $475.68 million. ExlService had a return on equity of 23.23% and a net margin of 10.61%. As a group, research analysts expect that ExlService will post 1.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at ExlService

In related news, EVP Anita Mahon sold 10,558 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.92, for a total value of $484,823.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 94,443 shares in the company, valued at $4,336,822.56. This trade represents a 10.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Maurizio Nicolelli sold 13,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.14, for a total transaction of $675,822.42. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 194,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,554,781.60. The trade was a 6.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,351 shares of company stock worth $2,337,284 in the last quarter. 4.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of ExlService

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EXLS. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in ExlService by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 230,410 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $8,790,000 after purchasing an additional 50,399 shares during the period. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of ExlService during the third quarter valued at about $484,000. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in ExlService in the third quarter worth about $1,543,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in ExlService by 2.3% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 15,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $597,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in ExlService by 38.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 81,359 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,104,000 after acquiring an additional 22,435 shares in the last quarter. 92.92% of the stock is currently 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.