Herc (NYSE:HRI) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Herc (NYSE:HRI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on HRI. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Herc in a report on Friday, June 7th. They issued a neutral rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Herc presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $153.00.

Herc Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of HRI opened at $131.01 on Thursday. Herc has a 52-week low of $100.17 and a 52-week high of $171.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $141.80 and its 200-day moving average is $149.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.95, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.82, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 2.08.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.48 by ($0.12). Herc had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 28.68%. The business had revenue of $804.00 million during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Herc will post 14.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herc

In other Herc news, CEO Lawrence Harris Silber sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total value of $3,176,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 213,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,887,195.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Lawrence Harris Silber sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.81, for a total transaction of $3,176,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 213,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,887,195.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Christian J. Cunningham sold 6,607 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.37, for a total value of $1,026,529.59. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,029 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,326,705.73. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,451 shares of company stock worth $5,092,946. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herc

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HRI. Norges Bank bought a new position in Herc in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,505,000. Capital International Investors bought a new position in Herc in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,457,000. Theleme Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Herc by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 817,891 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $121,776,000 after acquiring an additional 169,886 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Herc by 185.7% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 170,649 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,720,000 after acquiring an additional 110,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Herc by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,898,147 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $431,505,000 after acquiring an additional 60,715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

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.