Short Interest in HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) Increases By 9.5%

HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 125,400 shares, an increase of 9.5% from the June 30th total of 114,500 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 14,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of HireQuest in a research report on Friday, July 5th.

HireQuest Stock Up 4.7 %

NASDAQ HQI traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $13.48. 1,170 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,651. The stock has a market cap of $188.72 million, a PE ratio of 36.95 and a beta of 1.03. HireQuest has a 52 week low of $11.40 and a 52 week high of $25.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.87.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.14 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $8.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.89 million. HireQuest had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 9.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that HireQuest will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

HireQuest Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. HireQuest’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Richard Hermanns purchased 4,219 shares of HireQuest stock in a transaction on Friday, June 28th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $12.08 per share, for a total transaction of $50,965.52. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 3,064,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,022,639.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 16,413 shares of company stock worth $203,058. 45.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HireQuest

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in HireQuest by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 90,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 772 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of HireQuest by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 267,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,464,000 after buying an additional 2,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE purchased a new stake in shares of HireQuest in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,047,000. 12.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HireQuest Company Profile

HireQuest, Inc provides temporary staffing services in the United States. It offers staffing services, including direct-dispatch, executive search, consultant, unskilled and semi-skilled industrial and construction personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, and permanent placement services, as well as commercial and non-CDL drivers, and skilled personnel in the medical and dental industries.