Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Buys 1,090 Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 18.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,854 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Herc were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HRI. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Herc by 60.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,319 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,724,000 after purchasing an additional 3,904 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Herc by 90.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 315 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Herc by 52.6% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,202 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 4,549 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Herc by 3.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 28,368 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $4,740,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new position in shares of Herc during the first quarter worth approximately $2,238,000. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Herc presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herc

In other Herc news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total value of $564,009.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,236 shares in the company, valued at $6,560,647.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Herc Price Performance

Herc stock traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $150.09. The company had a trading volume of 254,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 184,281. Herc Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.97 and a fifty-two week high of $171.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $140.09.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by ($0.05). Herc had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 30.21%. The company had revenue of $831.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $858.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 13.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. This is a positive change from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.98%.

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.