Citigroup Inc. Trims Stake in H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES)

Citigroup Inc. trimmed its position in H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,129 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,983 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in H&E Equipment Services were worth $265,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 2.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,319,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,084,000 after acquiring an additional 69,889 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in H&E Equipment Services by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,810,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $128,589,000 after buying an additional 287,077 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in H&E Equipment Services by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,539,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $68,107,000 after buying an additional 4,801 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 5.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,355,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $58,560,000 after buying an additional 74,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 169.7% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 903,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,955,000 after acquiring an additional 568,416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on HEES shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of H&E Equipment Services from $59.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of H&E Equipment Services from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised H&E Equipment Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Bradley W. Barber sold 9,615 shares of H&E Equipment Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $555,747.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,127 shares in the company, valued at $12,896,740.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other H&E Equipment Services news, CEO Bradley W. Barber sold 1,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.41, for a total value of $114,779.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 244,753 shares in the company, valued at $14,785,528.73. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Bradley W. Barber sold 9,615 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.80, for a total transaction of $555,747.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,127 shares in the company, valued at $12,896,740.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 75,800 shares of company stock valued at $4,534,789 in the last quarter. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

H&E Equipment Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HEES opened at $64.62 on Thursday. H&E Equipment Services, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.33 and a 52 week high of $64.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $55.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.94.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.25. H&E Equipment Services had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 36.72%. The business had revenue of $385.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $382.58 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that H&E Equipment Services, Inc. will post 5.02 earnings per share for the current year.

H&E Equipment Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. H&E Equipment Services’s payout ratio is currently 23.55%.

About H&E Equipment Services

H&E Equipment Services, Inc operates as an integrated equipment services company in the United States. The company operates in five segments: Equipment Rentals, Sales of Rental Equipment, Sales of New Equipment, Parts Sales, and Repair and Maintenance Services. The Equipment Rentals segment provides construction and industrial equipment for rent on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.