Share Buyback Program Announced by HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) Board

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 17th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $20.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 18.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

HireQuest Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HQI traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $7.73. 41,012 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,173. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $8.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.42. HireQuest has a twelve month low of $7.38 and a twelve month high of $15.75. The company has a market cap of $108.99 million, a PE ratio of 15.46 and a beta of 1.13.

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

HireQuest Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. HireQuest’s payout ratio is 48.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HQI. Weiss Ratings cut shares of HireQuest from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson set a $15.00 price target on HireQuest in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $13.00 price target on shares of HireQuest in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

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.