HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI) Short Interest Update

HireQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ:HQI – Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totalling 56,800 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the December 15th total of 60,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of HireQuest

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HQI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in HireQuest by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 183,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in HireQuest during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,448,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of HireQuest by 3.6% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 65,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,270 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of HireQuest by 262.6% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 38,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 28,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in HireQuest by 5.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 28,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,399 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 6.97% of the company’s stock.

HireQuest Stock Performance

NASDAQ HQI opened at $20.29 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $17.51 and a 200-day moving average of $15.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market cap of $281.58 million, a PE ratio of 23.32 and a beta of 0.98. HireQuest has a 52-week low of $11.80 and a 52-week high of $20.50.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $9.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.80 million. HireQuest had a net margin of 35.56% and a return on equity of 29.18%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that HireQuest will post 1.14 EPS for the current year.

HireQuest Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 30th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. HireQuest’s payout ratio is presently 27.59%.

HireQuest Company Profile

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HireQuest, Inc engages in the provision of staffing services. It offers temporary, permanent, and direct-hire recruiting and staffing services of entry-level and clerical or admin employees, construction and light industrial workers, semi-skilled trades, healthcare personnel, and professionals and executives.