Barrington Research Reaffirms "Outperform" Rating for HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI)

Key Points

• Barrington Research has reaffirmed an "outperform" rating for HireQuest (NASDAQ: HQI) with a price target of $13.00, indicating a potential upside of 35.84% from its current price.
• HireQuest reported $0.15 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.11, with a revenue of $7.64 million.
• A significant increase in institutional holdings was noted, with Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase among the firms boosting their stakes in the company, reflecting growing interest in the stock.

Barrington Research reiterated their outperform rating on shares of HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI - Free Report) in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Barrington Research currently has a $13.00 price target on the stock. Barrington Research also issued estimates for HireQuest's FY2026 earnings at $0.39 EPS.

HireQuest Stock Up 2.0%

HireQuest stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $9.76. 3,440 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,113. HireQuest has a one year low of $8.94 and a one year high of $15.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $9.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.95. The company has a market cap of $137.62 million, a PE ratio of 54.22 and a beta of 1.22.

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.04. HireQuest had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 7.47%.The company had revenue of $7.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 million. On average, analysts expect that HireQuest will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

HireQuest Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.06 per share. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. HireQuest's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 133.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in HireQuest by 4.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 139,141 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 5,685 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in HireQuest by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 53,808 shares of the company's stock worth $762,000 after buying an additional 4,449 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in HireQuest during the first quarter worth approximately $317,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of HireQuest by 67.8% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 26,303 shares of the company's stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 10,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of HireQuest during the 4th quarter valued at $309,000. Institutional investors own 12.00% of the company's stock.

About HireQuest

HireQuest, Inc provides temporary staffing services in the United States. It offers staffing services, including direct-dispatch, executive search, consultant, unskilled and semi-skilled industrial and construction personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, and permanent placement services, as well as commercial and non-CDL drivers, and skilled personnel in the medical and dental industries.