** Shares of Australia's Seek rise as much as 1.1% to A$25.52

** Stock hits highest since late March after analysts at Macquarie raise PT by 12% to A$28

** SEK on Monday said it had entered an exclusive due diligence to buyout HR and recruitment tech firm Xref for A$45 million ($30.27 million)

** Macquarie says the potential deal is consistent with SEK's strategy and XRef could broader co's platform on this regard

** Brokerage says SEEK's three-year outlook from a yield, margin and soon-to-be volume are all turning more positive, retains "outperform" rating

** XF1 shares were trading flat

** SEK has fallen 5.6% this year as of last close

($1 = 1.4868 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru)

((Rishav.Chatterjee@thomsonreuters.com;))