Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $165.6667.

HRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Herc from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Herc from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Herc from $190.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Herc from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Herc from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th.

Herc Trading Up 6.5%

Shares of NYSE:HRI opened at $140.52 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $119.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Herc has a one year low of $88.45 and a one year high of $188.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a PE ratio of -520.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 23.90 and a beta of 1.89.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.42. Herc had a negative net margin of 0.11% and a positive return on equity of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Herc will post 5.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,037.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herc

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,123,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $481,040,000 after purchasing an additional 413,719 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Herc in the 4th quarter valued at about $287,269,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 86,823.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,335,138 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $198,108,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333,602 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,301,975 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $151,889,000 after purchasing an additional 97,235 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,164,022 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $115,872,000 after purchasing an additional 170,189 shares during the period. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Herc

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.