HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) Trading 5.2% Higher

Shares of HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) traded up 5.2% on Friday . The company traded as high as $12.68 and last traded at $12.65. 7,311 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 12,889 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.02.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on HQI. Barrington Research decreased their price objective on HireQuest from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on HireQuest from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd.

HireQuest Trading Up 5.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $177.10 million, a P/E ratio of 28.11 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.02.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.42 million. HireQuest had a return on equity of 10.37% and a net margin of 16.20%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HireQuest, Inc. will post 0.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

HireQuest Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.06 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. HireQuest’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HireQuest

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in HireQuest stock. US Bancorp DE purchased a new stake in HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 133,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,047,000. US Bancorp DE owned 0.96% of HireQuest at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors own 12.00% of the company’s stock.

About HireQuest

HireQuest, Inc provides temporary staffing services in the United States. It offers staffing services, including direct-dispatch, executive search, consultant, unskilled and semi-skilled industrial and construction personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, and permanent placement services, as well as commercial and non-CDL drivers, and skilled personnel in the medical and dental industries.