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

H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) saw a significant decline in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 892,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 7.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

H&E Equipment Services Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:HEES opened at $95.90 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.34 and a beta of 1.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.76. H&E Equipment Services has a 12-month low of $40.92 and a 12-month high of $101.28.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $384.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $372.50 million. H&E Equipment Services had a return on equity of 25.46% and a net margin of 9.47%. Equities analysts anticipate that H&E Equipment Services will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

H&E Equipment Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. H&E Equipment Services’s payout ratio is currently 32.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on HEES. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $92.00 price target (up previously from $60.00) on shares of H&E Equipment Services in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com began coverage on H&E Equipment Services in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HEES. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 2,576.2% in the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 855,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,884,000 after buying an additional 823,510 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 1,238.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 689,911 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,778,000 after buying an additional 638,379 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,780,000. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 3,914.1% in the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 424,809 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,799,000 after buying an additional 414,226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,134,252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $104,493,000 after buying an additional 313,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.