Herc (NYSE:HRI) Shares Gap Up to $148.40

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $148.40, but opened at $156.62. Herc shares last traded at $156.73, with a volume of 45,487 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Herc from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.50.

Herc Trading Up 0.2 %

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 2.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $831.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $858.06 million. Herc had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 30.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 14.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. Herc’s payout ratio is currently 21.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herc

In related news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the business’s 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 approximately $6,560,647.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Herc during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $6,958,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Herc by 172.4% in the 1st quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 5,878 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $989,000 after purchasing an additional 3,720 shares during the period. Midwest Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Herc by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 1,840 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new position in Herc in the 1st quarter worth approximately $227,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Herc by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,898,147 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $431,505,000 after purchasing an additional 60,715 shares during the period. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.