StockNews.com Downgrades H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

Separately, B. Riley increased their price target on H&E Equipment Services from $47.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 28th.

H&E Equipment Services Stock Down 2.3 %

HEES stock opened at $45.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $42.72 and its 200-day moving average is $43.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a PE ratio of 9.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.97. H&E Equipment Services has a twelve month low of $32.33 and a twelve month high of $56.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $400.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $370.61 million. H&E Equipment Services had a return on equity of 38.97% and a net margin of 11.62%. Sell-side analysts expect that H&E Equipment Services will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&E Equipment Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 28th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 27th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. H&E Equipment Services’s payout ratio is 23.86%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On H&E Equipment Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HEES. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in H&E Equipment Services by 169.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 903,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,955,000 after purchasing an additional 568,416 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of H&E Equipment Services during the fourth quarter worth about $17,019,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in H&E Equipment Services by 11.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,810,697 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $128,589,000 after buying an additional 287,077 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 218.6% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 347,043 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,877,000 after buying an additional 238,105 shares during the period. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in H&E Equipment Services by 201.3% during the first quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 247,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,773,000 after purchasing an additional 165,397 shares during the last quarter. 76.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

H&E Equipment Services Company Profile

H&E Equipment Services, Inc operates as an integrated equipment services company. The company operates in five segments: Equipment Rentals, Used Equipment Sales, New Equipment Sales, 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.