Herc (NYSE:HRI) PT Raised to $178.00

Herc (NYSE:HRI) had its price target upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $155.00 to $178.00 in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the transportation company’s stock.

Separately, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $152.50.

Herc Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:HRI opened at $150.77 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. Herc has a 52-week low of $93.97 and a 52-week high of $171.00. The stock has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.27. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $158.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.84.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by ($0.05). Herc had a return on equity of 30.21% and a net margin of 10.58%. The firm had revenue of $831.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $858.06 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Herc will post 13.86 EPS for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This is a boost from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.98%.

Insider Activity at Herc

In related news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of Herc stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total transaction of $564,009.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,236 shares in the company, valued at $6,560,647.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HRI. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Herc by 51.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,589,703 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $294,967,000 after buying an additional 878,615 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Herc by 37.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,667,255 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $198,303,000 after buying an additional 457,697 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Herc in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,505,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Herc by 374.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 366,165 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $48,176,000 after buying an additional 289,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Herc in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,457,000. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.