HireQuest’s (HQI) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Barrington Research

Barrington Research reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $13.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on HQI. Wall Street Zen raised shares of HireQuest to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 17th. DA Davidson set a $15.00 price objective on HireQuest in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised HireQuest from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HireQuest presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.00.

HireQuest Trading Down 1.9%

HireQuest stock opened at $11.23 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.54. HireQuest has a 12 month low of $7.38 and a 12 month high of $15.75. The company has a market capitalization of $158.34 million, a PE ratio of 22.46 and a beta of 1.10.

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

HireQuest Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. HireQuest’s payout ratio is 48.00%.

HireQuest declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 17th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 18.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at HireQuest

In related news, CEO Richard Hermanns acquired 9,704 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $10.28 per share, for a total transaction of $99,757.12. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,951,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,339,189.24. The trade was a 0.33% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 28,980 shares of company stock worth $276,165. Company insiders own 43.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HireQuest

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HQI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of HireQuest by 4.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 293,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,819,000 after purchasing an additional 12,246 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in HireQuest by 4.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in HireQuest by 67.8% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 26,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 10,627 shares during the period. Finally, GWN Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in HireQuest by 27.3% in the third quarter. GWN Securities Inc. now owns 16,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 3,508 shares in the last quarter. 12.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

HireQuest Company Profile

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.