H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) Short Interest Down 18.4% in February

H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, a decrease of 18.4% from the February 13th total of 2,340,000 shares. Approximately 6.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 968,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on HEES. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up from $60.00) on shares of H&E Equipment Services in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of H&E Equipment Services in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, H&E Equipment Services currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HEES. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in H&E Equipment Services by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of H&E Equipment Services in the third quarter worth about $84,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its holdings in H&E Equipment Services by 227.7% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,749 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,172 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, L.M. Kohn & Company purchased a new stake in H&E Equipment Services during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $217,000. 84.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

H&E Equipment Services Trading Up 0.2 %

HEES traded up $0.15 during trading on Thursday, hitting $94.80. 21,851 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 459,904. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.92. H&E Equipment Services has a 1 year low of $40.93 and a 1 year high of $101.28. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.04 and a beta of 1.94.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.18. H&E Equipment Services had a net margin of 9.47% and a return on equity of 25.46%. The firm had revenue of $384.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $372.50 million. As a group, analysts expect that H&E Equipment Services will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&E Equipment Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. H&E Equipment Services’s payout ratio is currently 32.64%.

About H&E Equipment Services

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.