Richard Hermanns Buys 9,704 Shares of HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) Stock

HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) CEO Richard Hermanns acquired 9,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $10.28 per share, for a total transaction of $99,757.12. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

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

• On Wednesday, December 24th, Richard Hermanns bought 422 shares of HireQuest stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $10.12 per share, with a total value of $4,270.64.
• On Monday, December 22nd, Richard Hermanns bought 18,854 shares of HireQuest stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $9.13 per share, for a total transaction of $172,137.02.

HireQuest Stock Performance

Shares of HQI opened at $10.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.87 million, a P/E ratio of 21.40 and a beta of 1.10. HireQuest, Inc. has a one year low of $7.38 and a one year high of $15.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $8.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.41.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.10. The company 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that HireQuest, Inc. will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HireQuest announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 17th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 18.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

HireQuest Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. HireQuest’s payout ratio is presently 48.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HireQuest

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HireQuest in the first quarter valued at $317,000. GWN Securities Inc. bought a new stake in HireQuest in the 2nd quarter valued at about $129,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in HireQuest by 4.3% during 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 period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted 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 valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 10,627 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 last quarter. 12.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson set a $15.00 price target on HireQuest in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $13.00 target price on shares of HireQuest in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of HireQuest in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.00.

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.