HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

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

HireQuest Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of HQI stock opened at $10.94 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.47. The company has a market cap of $154.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88 and a beta of 1.10. HireQuest has a 12-month low of $7.38 and a 12-month high of $15.75.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $8.50 million for 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that HireQuest will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Transactions at HireQuest

In related news, CEO Richard Hermanns bought 9,704 shares of HireQuest stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.28 per share, with a total value of $99,757.12. Following the purchase, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 28,980 shares of company stock valued at $276,165. 43.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HireQuest

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of HireQuest in the second quarter valued at $129,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 10,627 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 5,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 12,246 shares in the last quarter. 12.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.