H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,340,000 shares, a decrease of 27.3% from the January 31st total of 3,220,000 shares. Currently, 7.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 892,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Institutional Trading of H&E Equipment Services

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in H&E Equipment Services during the 3rd quarter valued at $84,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 227.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,749 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company purchased a new position in shares of H&E Equipment Services in the 3rd quarter worth $217,000. 84.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HEES shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $60.00) on shares of H&E Equipment Services in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com started coverage on H&E Equipment Services in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.33.

H&E Equipment Services Stock Down 1.0 %

HEES stock traded down $0.99 on Tuesday, reaching $94.10. 987,661 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,328,287. H&E Equipment Services has a one year low of $40.92 and a one year high of $101.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88 and a beta of 1.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.45.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.18. H&E Equipment Services had a return on equity of 25.46% and a net margin of 9.47%. The business had revenue of $384.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $372.50 million. Research analysts anticipate that H&E Equipment Services will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

H&E Equipment Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. H&E Equipment Services’s dividend payout ratio is 32.64%.

About H&E Equipment Services

H&E Equipment Services, Inc engages in the provision of equipment services, which focus on heavy construction and industrial equipment. It operates through the following segments: Equipment Rentals, New Equipment Sales, Used Equipment Sales, Parts Sales, and Services. The Equipment Rentals segment focuses on renting construction and industrial equipment.