HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) Upgraded to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings raised HireQuest from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of HireQuest in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $15.00 target price on HireQuest in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

HireQuest Stock Performance

NASDAQ:HQI opened at $10.94 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.47. HireQuest has a fifty-two week low of $7.38 and a fifty-two week high of $15.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.25 million, a P/E ratio of 21.88 and a beta of 1.10.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.10. HireQuest had a net margin of 21.92% and a return on equity of 14.48%. The firm had revenue of $8.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 million. On average, research analysts forecast that HireQuest will post 0.28 EPS for the current year.

HireQuest announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 17th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 18.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

HireQuest Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. HireQuest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other HireQuest news, CEO Richard Hermanns purchased 9,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $10.28 per share, for a total transaction of $99,757.12. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 2,951,283 shares in the company, valued at $30,339,189.24. This represents a 0.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders purchased a total of 28,980 shares of company stock valued at $276,165 in the last 90 days. 43.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of HireQuest

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HQI. GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HireQuest during the second quarter worth $129,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in HireQuest by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 293,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,819,000 after purchasing an additional 12,246 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of HireQuest by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 139,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after buying an additional 5,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of HireQuest by 67.8% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 26,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 10,627 shares during the period. 12.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About HireQuest

HireQuest, Inc is a publicly traded holding company that provides equipment rental and workforce solutions across North America through two primary operating subsidiaries. Its Coast Equipment Rentals division offers a broad range of support equipment—such as pumps, trench safety systems, power and HVAC units, air compressors, light towers and generators—to the construction, industrial, municipal and environmental markets. Coast Equipment Rentals operates more than 135 branch locations in 36 U.S.