Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its holdings in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 22.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 40,546 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 11,421 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Herc were worth $7,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Herc in the fourth quarter valued at $71,211,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Herc in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,982,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of Herc by 578.8% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 231,130 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $43,760,000 after acquiring an additional 197,082 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Herc by 117.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 116,512 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $19,739,000 after acquiring an additional 62,883 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Herc by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 736,809 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $117,470,000 after acquiring an additional 56,191 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on HRI shares. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Herc in a report on Monday, March 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $165.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Herc from $234.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.20.

Herc Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of HRI stock opened at $138.91 on Friday. Herc Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.60 and a fifty-two week high of $246.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $167.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $183.96. The stock has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.40). Herc had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The business had revenue of $934.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $919.84 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 12.84 EPS for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. This is a positive change from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.79%.

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.