Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 89,046 Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,290,180 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 89,046 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.89% of Herc worth $383,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of HRI. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Herc by 176.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 25,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,462,000 after purchasing an additional 16,470 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Herc by 25.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 263,180 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,337,000 after buying an additional 53,054 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. grew its position in Herc by 36.6% during the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 2,095 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Herc by 158.2% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 364 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Herc by 108.8% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Herc Trading Up 5.1%

Shares of HRI opened at $148.91 on Friday. Herc Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $96.18 and a fifty-two week high of $188.35. The firm has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -827.28, a PEG ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 1.77. The firm has a 50 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 quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31.

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

Herc Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on HRI shares. Citigroup dropped 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Herc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Herc from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Herc from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Herc from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.29.

Herc Company Profile

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.