Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Short Interest Up 12.1% in December

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 751,000 shares, an increase of 12.1% from the November 30th total of 670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 349,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on HRI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Herc from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Herc from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $219.75.

Insider Activity

In other Herc news, SVP Samuel Wade Sheek sold 5,000 shares of Herc stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.12, for a total transaction of $1,065,600.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,600,408.32. The trade was a 18.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael A. Kelly sold 3,880 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.83, for a total value of $810,260.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,876,424.42. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herc

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Herc by 8.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 736,809 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $117,470,000 after buying an additional 56,191 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Herc by 0.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 665,904 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $106,165,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Herc by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 637,070 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $101,589,000 after purchasing an additional 6,874 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Herc by 18.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 561,995 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $74,908,000 after purchasing an additional 87,330 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Herc by 6.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,229 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $63,011,000 after purchasing an additional 23,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Price Performance

Shares of HRI traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $189.33. 236,723 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 256,729. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $213.17 and a 200 day moving average of $169.08. Herc has a one year low of $124.70 and a one year high of $246.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 2.02.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.48 by ($0.13). Herc had a net margin of 10.09% and a return on equity of 26.35%. The firm had revenue of $965.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $931.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Herc will post 13.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Herc’s payout ratio is presently 21.75%.

Herc Company 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.