Insider Buying: HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) Director Buys 2,000 Shares of Stock

HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) Director R. Rimmy Malhotra acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.29 per share, for a total transaction of $24,580.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 79,012 shares in the company, valued at $971,057.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

HireQuest Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of HQI traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $12.30. 9,758 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,602. HireQuest, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.40 and a 52 week high of $26.53. The company’s 50 day moving average is $12.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.30. The company has a market capitalization of $172.20 million, a P/E ratio of 32.42 and a beta of 1.02.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by ($0.02). HireQuest had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The company had revenue of $8.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.89 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that HireQuest, Inc. will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

HireQuest Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a $0.06 dividend. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. HireQuest’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On HireQuest

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on HQI. DA Davidson decreased their price target on HireQuest from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of HireQuest in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th.

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.