H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) Hits New 1-Year High at $63.71

H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $63.71 and last traded at $63.40, with a volume of 89950 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $62.62.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on HEES shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of H&E Equipment Services from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of H&E Equipment Services from $59.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of H&E Equipment Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st.

H&E Equipment Services Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $56.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.24. The company has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.05.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $385.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $382.58 million. H&E Equipment Services had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 36.72%. The business’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that H&E Equipment Services, Inc. will post 5.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H&E Equipment Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. H&E Equipment Services’s payout ratio is 23.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Gary W. Bagley sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.34, for a total transaction of $281,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 59,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,332,567.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Gary W. Bagley sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.34, for a total transaction of $281,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 59,151 shares in the company, valued at $3,332,567.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Bradley W. Barber sold 15,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.54, for a total transaction of $885,252.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 232,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,391,974.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 75,800 shares of company stock worth $4,534,789 over the last ninety days. 12.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On H&E Equipment Services

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,804,017 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $199,026,000 after purchasing an additional 51,626 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,810,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $128,589,000 after purchasing an additional 287,077 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,539,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,107,000 after purchasing an additional 4,801 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,355,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $58,560,000 after purchasing an additional 74,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 169.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 903,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,955,000 after purchasing an additional 568,416 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.