Herc (NYSE:HRI) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Herc (NYSE:HRI) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on HRI. Barclays upped their target price on Herc from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Herc from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Herc from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Herc from $189.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Herc from $165.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.71.

Herc Price Performance

Shares of HRI stock opened at $104.14 on Tuesday. Herc has a twelve month low of $88.45 and a twelve month high of $188.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -578.55, a P/E/G ratio of 17.78 and a beta of 1.81. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $136.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The transportation company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.20. Herc had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 0.02%.The business had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Herc will post 12.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,555.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herc

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRI. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Herc by 176.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 25,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,462,000 after purchasing an additional 16,470 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Herc by 25.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 263,180 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,337,000 after purchasing an additional 53,054 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new stake in Herc during the second quarter valued at about $267,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Herc by 12,425.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 20,918 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,755,000 after purchasing an additional 20,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Herc by 9.0% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 53,728 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,075,000 after purchasing an additional 4,451 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

About Herc

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.