HireQuest, Inc. (HQI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.06 on December 15th

HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 7th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.06 per share on Monday, December 15th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st.

HireQuest has a payout ratio of 42.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect HireQuest to earn $0.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.9%.

HireQuest Stock Performance

HireQuest stock traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $8.81. 82,914 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,613. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $8.98 and its 200 day moving average is $9.56. The stock has a market cap of $124.15 million, a P/E ratio of 48.92 and a beta of 1.22. HireQuest has a 52-week low of $7.61 and a 52-week high of $15.75.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $8.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.11 million. HireQuest had a net margin of 7.47% and a return on equity of 13.88%. Equities research analysts expect that HireQuest will post 0.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of HireQuest

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of HireQuest during the 1st quarter worth $317,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in HireQuest by 62,604.0% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 15,651 shares during the last quarter. GWN Securities Inc. bought a new position in HireQuest during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $129,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in HireQuest by 4.3% in 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 during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of HireQuest by 4.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 293,013 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,819,000 after purchasing an additional 12,246 shares in the last 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.