Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,612 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 1,190 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Herc were worth $416,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Herc by 27.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 281 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its position in Herc by 70.4% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 322 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 369.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 343 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 704.2% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 386 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Herc during the third quarter worth about $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE HRI opened at $188.42 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 2.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $211.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $124.70 and a 12-month high of $246.88.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.48 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $965.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $931.33 million. Herc had a net margin of 10.09% and a return on equity of 26.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.00 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 13.59 EPS for the current year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. Herc’s payout ratio is 21.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays increased their price target on Herc from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Herc from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Herc presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $219.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Samuel Wade Sheek sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.12, for a total transaction of $1,065,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,600,408.32. This represents a 18.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael A. Kelly sold 3,880 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.83, for a total value of $810,260.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,876,424.42. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Herc

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.