HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) Shares Down 1.7% – Should You Sell?

Shares of HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) dropped 1.7% on Monday . The company traded as low as $11.87 and last traded at $12.39. 15,739 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 17% from the average session volume of 13,506 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HQI has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of HireQuest in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of HireQuest from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Barrington Research upped their price objective on HireQuest from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.00.

HireQuest Trading Down 1.7%

The firm has a market cap of $172.22 million, a PE ratio of 26.94 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $12.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.98.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $6.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.75 million. HireQuest had a net margin of 21.98% and a return on equity of 14.90%. Equities analysts forecast that HireQuest, Inc. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HireQuest Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. HireQuest’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HireQuest

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of HireQuest by 4.4% during 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 last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in HireQuest in the fourth quarter valued at $112,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in HireQuest by 67.8% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 26,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 10,627 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in HireQuest by 158.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 10,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 6,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in HireQuest by 4.3% in the second 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. 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.