Short Interest in H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) Decreases By 18.4%

H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, a drop of 18.4% from the February 13th total of 2,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 968,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 6.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HEES. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,453 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in H&E Equipment Services by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 12,280 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $601,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 64,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,163,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,615 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of H&E Equipment Services by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 130,881 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,408,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. 84.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

H&E Equipment Services Stock Performance

HEES traded down $0.08 on Tuesday, reaching $93.81. The company had a trading volume of 404,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 460,999. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $86.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 23.81 and a beta of 1.94. H&E Equipment Services has a 1 year low of $40.93 and a 1 year high of $101.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.18. H&E Equipment Services had a return on equity of 25.46% and a net margin of 9.47%. The company had revenue of $384.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $372.50 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that H&E Equipment Services will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H&E Equipment Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. H&E Equipment Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HEES has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $92.00 price objective (up previously from $60.00) on shares of H&E Equipment Services in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of H&E Equipment Services in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, H&E Equipment Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.33.

About H&E Equipment Services

H&E Equipment Services, Inc engages in the provision of equipment services, which focus on heavy construction and industrial equipment. It operates through the following segments: Equipment Rentals, New Equipment Sales, Used Equipment Sales, Parts Sales, and Services. The Equipment Rentals segment focuses on renting construction and industrial equipment.