Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Holdings Lifted by John G Ullman & Associates Inc.

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 16.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 34,871 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,900 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Herc were worth $5,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Herc by 90.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 315 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Herc by 363.0% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 338 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Herc by 95.8% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 507 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. acquired a new stake in Herc during the first quarter valued at approximately $109,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Herc by 227.4% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 704 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on HRI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herc

In other Herc news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total value of $564,009.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,560,647.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Herc Stock Down 0.5 %

Herc stock traded down $0.68 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $150.09. The company had a trading volume of 254,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 190,783. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 2.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $158.63 and its 200-day moving average is $139.84. Herc Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.97 and a fifty-two week high of $171.00.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.29 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $831.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $858.06 million. Herc had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 30.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.44 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 13.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is 21.98%.

Herc Profile

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.