Barrington Research Reiterates Outperform Rating for HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI)

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Barrington Research in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $13.00 price target on the stock. Barrington Research’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 15.76% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on HQI. Wall Street Zen raised HireQuest to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 17th. Weiss Ratings raised HireQuest from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $15.00 price target on HireQuest in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, HireQuest presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.00.

HireQuest Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:HQI opened at $11.23 on Thursday. HireQuest has a twelve month low of $7.38 and a twelve month high of $15.75. The company has a market cap of $158.34 million, a PE ratio of 22.46 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $9.74 and its 200 day moving average is $9.53.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.11 million. HireQuest had a net margin of 21.92% and a return on equity of 14.48%. Equities research analysts predict that HireQuest will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HireQuest announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 17th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 18.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at HireQuest

In other HireQuest news, CEO Richard Hermanns bought 18,854 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $9.13 per share, for a total transaction of $172,137.02. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 28,980 shares of company stock worth $276,165. Corporate insiders own 43.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HireQuest

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in HQI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of HireQuest by 4.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 5,685 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of 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. Finally, GWN Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of HireQuest by 27.3% in the third quarter. GWN Securities Inc. now owns 16,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after buying an additional 3,508 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.00% of the company’s stock.

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.