Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Position in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,290,180 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 89,046 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Herc worth $383,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Herc by 53.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 248 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 158.2% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 364 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Herc by 114.7% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 584 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Herc in the third quarter worth about $86,000. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd grew its stake in shares of Herc by 193.6% in the second quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 1,095 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price target on Herc from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Herc from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Herc from $170.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Herc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Herc from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.29.

Herc Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRI opened at $148.91 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $159.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $141.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The company has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of -827.28, a PEG ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 1.77. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $96.18 and a 1-year high of $188.35.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The transportation company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.20. Herc had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 0.02%.The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.58 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 12.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Herc’s payout ratio is presently -1,555.56%.

About Herc

Herc Holdings Inc (NYSE: HRI) operates as a leading equipment rental provider in North America, offering a wide range of machinery and support services to construction, industrial, government and event sectors. The company’s fleet includes aerial work platforms, earthmoving equipment, material handling solutions, power generation units and specialty tools, enabling clients to scale their operations without the capital expense of ownership. In addition to basic machinery rentals, Herc provides value-added services such as equipment maintenance, on-site safety training and project consulting to help customers optimize productivity and maintain compliance with industry standards.

Founded as part of Hertz Global Holdings, the equipment rental business was spun off as an independent public company in early 2016.