H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) Trading 4.9% Higher – Time to Buy?

H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES)’s share price shot up 4.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $53.71 and last traded at $53.56. 97,871 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 266,056 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HEES. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on H&E Equipment Services from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of H&E Equipment Services in a report on Friday, June 28th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of H&E Equipment Services from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, KeyCorp started coverage on shares of H&E Equipment Services in a report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.67.

H&E Equipment Services Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.80. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a PEG ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by ($0.12). H&E Equipment Services had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 10.53%. The business had revenue of $376.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $382.05 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that H&E Equipment Services, Inc. will post 3.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&E Equipment Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 28th. H&E Equipment Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.55%.

Institutional Trading of H&E Equipment Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 186.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 194,102 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,449,000 after buying an additional 126,244 shares in the last quarter. Jade Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of H&E Equipment Services in the third quarter worth $1,217,000. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 4.1% in the third quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 26,110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services during the 3rd quarter valued at $254,000. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its holdings in H&E Equipment Services by 79.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 36,721 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,788,000 after purchasing an additional 16,212 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.08% of the company’s stock.

About H&E Equipment Services

H&E Equipment Services, Inc operates as an integrated equipment services company in the United States. The company operates in five segments: Equipment Rentals, Sales of Rental Equipment, Sales of New Equipment, Parts Sales, and Repair and Maintenance Services. The Equipment Rentals segment provides construction and industrial equipment for rent on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.