Key Points
- CEO Richard Hermanns bought 18,854 shares at an average of $9.13 on Dec. 22 (~$172,137), increasing his holdings to 2,941,157 shares (a 0.65% ownership rise).
- The board approved a $20.0 million share buyback program that could repurchase up to 18.4% of outstanding shares, signaling management believes the stock may be undervalued.
- HireQuest beat quarterly expectations with $0.24 EPS vs. $0.14 consensus and $8.50M revenue, and recently paid a $0.06 quarterly dividend (annualized $0.24, ~2.3% yield).
HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI - Get Free Report) CEO Richard Hermanns purchased 18,854 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.13 per share, for a total transaction of $172,137.02. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,941,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,852,763.41. This represents a 0.65% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.
Richard Hermanns also recently made the following trade(s):
- On Wednesday, December 24th, Richard Hermanns acquired 422 shares of HireQuest stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.12 per share, with a total value of $4,270.64.
HireQuest Price Performance
Shares of HQI stock opened at $10.30 on Tuesday. HireQuest, Inc. has a one year low of $7.38 and a one year high of $15.75. The company's fifty day moving average price is $8.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.39. The company has a market capitalization of $145.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60 and a beta of 1.13.
HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. HireQuest had a return on equity of 14.48% and a net margin of 21.92%.The business had revenue of $8.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 million. Equities research analysts expect that HireQuest, Inc. will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
HireQuest declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 18.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
HireQuest Announces Dividend
The firm 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.00%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
HQI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of HireQuest in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of HireQuest in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson set a $15.00 target price on HireQuest in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, HireQuest has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $14.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on HireQuest
Institutional Trading of HireQuest
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GWN Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of HireQuest in the 2nd quarter valued at about $129,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in HireQuest by 62,604.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,676 shares of the company's stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 15,651 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in HireQuest during the first quarter valued at approximately $317,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 5,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $2,819,000 after purchasing an additional 12,246 shares during the period. 12.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
HireQuest Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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