HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) CEO Purchases $172,137.02 in Stock

HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) CEO Richard Hermanns bought 18,854 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.13 per share, with a total value of $172,137.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,941,157 shares in the company, valued at $26,852,763.41. This represents a 0.65% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Richard Hermanns also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, December 24th, Richard Hermanns purchased 422 shares of HireQuest stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,270.64.

HireQuest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HQI traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $10.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 26,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,595. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.39. HireQuest, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.38 and a 1 year high of $15.75.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 21.92% and a return on equity of 14.48%. Analysts anticipate that HireQuest, Inc. will post 0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HireQuest Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. HireQuest’s payout ratio is presently 48.00%.

HireQuest announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 18.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HQI. 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. DA Davidson set a $15.00 price target on shares of HireQuest in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of HireQuest in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.00.

Institutional Trading of HireQuest

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of HireQuest by 62,604.0% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 15,651 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HireQuest in the first quarter valued at approximately $317,000. GWN Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of HireQuest in the second quarter valued at approximately $129,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of HireQuest by 4.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 139,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,393,000 after acquiring an additional 5,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of HireQuest by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 293,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,819,000 after acquiring an additional 12,246 shares during the period. 12.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.