Loews Corp Takes $5.74 Million Position in H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES)

Loews Corp bought a new position in H&E Equipment Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:HEES) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 130,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,742,000. H&E Equipment Services comprises approximately 0.0% of Loews Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Loews Corp owned 0.36% of H&E Equipment Services as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HEES. CWM LLC lifted its position in H&E Equipment Services by 42.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 932 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in H&E Equipment Services by 8.5% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,781 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in H&E Equipment Services by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in H&E Equipment Services by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 275,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,163,000 after buying an additional 770 shares during the period. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in H&E Equipment Services in the 1st quarter worth $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on HEES. KeyCorp assumed coverage on H&E Equipment Services in a report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of H&E Equipment Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on H&E Equipment Services from $63.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Raymond James initiated coverage on H&E Equipment Services in a research report on Friday, June 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on H&E Equipment Services from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.67.

H&E Equipment Services Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of HEES traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $48.15. The company had a trading volume of 174,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 263,403. H&E Equipment Services, Inc. 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 2.17, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $47.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.61.

H&E Equipment Services (NASDAQ:HEES) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by ($0.12). H&E Equipment Services had a return on equity of 30.84% and a net margin of 10.53%. The company had revenue of $376.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $382.05 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that H&E Equipment Services, Inc. will post 3.73 EPS for the current year.

H&E Equipment Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 28th. H&E Equipment Services’s payout ratio is 23.55%.

H&E Equipment Services Company Profile

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.