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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

H&E Equipment Services Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:HEES traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $94.10. 987,661 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,328,287. H&E Equipment Services has a 12-month low of $40.92 and a 12-month high of $101.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88 and a beta of 1.93. 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 50 day moving average price of $78.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.45.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $384.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $372.50 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that H&E Equipment Services will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

H&E Equipment Services Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,134,252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $104,493,000 after acquiring an additional 313,880 shares during the period. Pertento Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Pertento Partners LLP now owns 1,030,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,433,000 after acquiring an additional 119,151 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 2,576.2% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 855,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,884,000 after acquiring an additional 823,510 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 779,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $37,925,000 after acquiring an additional 21,805 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 755,017 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,762,000 after acquiring an additional 4,226 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.08% of the company’s stock.

H&E Equipment Services Company Profile

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.