Herc (NYSE:HRI) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Herc (NYSE:HRI – Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on HRI. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Herc from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, January 13th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Herc from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $164.60.

Herc Price Performance

Shares of HRI opened at $105.80 on Thursday. Herc has a twelve month low of $83.43 and a twelve month high of $171.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $143.97 and a 200-day moving average of $128.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 2.51.

Herc (NYSE:HRI – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The transportation company reported $3.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.50 by ($0.06). Herc had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 31.88%. The firm had revenue of $786.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $773.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 earnings per share. Herc’s quarterly revenue was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Herc will post 14.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.632 per share. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.53 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.15%.

Insider Transactions at Herc

In other news, COO Aaron Birnbaum sold 6,141 shares of Herc stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.69, for a total transaction of $870,118.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 44,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,348,987.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Aaron Birnbaum sold 6,141 shares of Herc stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.69, for a total transaction of $870,118.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 44,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,348,987.21. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Carl C. Icahn sold 77,560 shares of Herc stock in a transaction on Friday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.81, for a total value of $11,696,823.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,853,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,324,421.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 448,079 shares of company stock valued at $67,802,053. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herc

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HRI. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Herc in the third quarter worth $36,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Herc by 593.7% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 437 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Herc in the third quarter worth $42,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Herc by 90.9% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 315 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, CI Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Herc by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 500 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.85% of the company’s stock.

Herc Company Profile

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Herc Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental supplier. It rents aerial, earthmoving, material handling, trucks and trailers, air compressors, compaction, and lighting equipment, as well as generators, and safety supplies and expendables; and provides ProSolutions, an industry specific solution based services, such as pumping solutions, power generation, climate control, remediation and restoration, and studio and production equipment.