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

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $173.4286.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Herc from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Herc from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Herc from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. 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. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Herc in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herc

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Herc by 83.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 189,925 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,181,000 after buying an additional 86,282 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in Herc during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,098,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Herc by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 102,851 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $15,669,000 after acquiring an additional 22,367 shares during the period. Pier Capital LLC grew its holdings in Herc by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Pier Capital LLC now owns 69,196 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,267,000 after acquiring an additional 12,114 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Herc in the fourth quarter worth about $287,269,000. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Herc Stock Down 0.6%

HRI opened at $162.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $142.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -601.21, a P/E/G ratio of 29.64 and a beta of 1.88. Herc has a 12 month low of $88.45 and a 12 month high of $188.35.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.42. Herc had a positive return on equity of 10.72% and a negative net margin of 0.11%.The company had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 32.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Herc will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Herc’s payout ratio is presently -1,037.04%.

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.