Short Interest in H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) Increases By 41.3%

H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 747,800 shares, an increase of 41.3% from the May 31st total of 529,100 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 283,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On H&E Equipment Services

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in H&E Equipment Services during the fourth quarter worth $11,827,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 62.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 353,611 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,501,000 after purchasing an additional 136,504 shares in the last quarter. Castleark Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of H&E Equipment Services during the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,046,000. Shelton Capital Management increased its position in H&E Equipment Services by 199.4% during the third quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 150,168 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,486,000 after buying an additional 100,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services in the fourth quarter valued at $4,000,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on HEES shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of H&E Equipment Services from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Raymond James started coverage on shares of H&E Equipment Services in a research report on Friday. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of H&E Equipment Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of H&E Equipment Services from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.00.

H&E Equipment Services Stock Performance

Shares of HEES traded down $1.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $42.75. 247,250 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 253,466. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 9.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.89. H&E Equipment Services has a 52-week low of $38.06 and a 52-week high of $66.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.02). H&E Equipment Services had a return on equity of 34.33% and a net margin of 11.17%. The company had revenue of $371.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $352.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. H&E Equipment Services’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that H&E Equipment Services will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current year.

H&E Equipment Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. H&E Equipment Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.55%.

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.