Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 670,000 shares, a decrease of 12.3% from the November 15th total of 763,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 320,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Herc news, Director Michael A. Kelly sold 3,880 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.83, for a total transaction of $810,260.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,876,424.42. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Samuel Wade Sheek sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 21,586 shares in the company, valued at $4,600,408.32. This trade represents a 18.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herc

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HRI. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Herc by 27.7% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 281 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Herc by 70.4% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 322 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Herc by 369.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 343 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Herc by 704.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 386 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Herc during the third quarter worth $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HRI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Herc from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Herc from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Herc presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $219.75.

Herc Trading Down 2.1 %

Herc stock traded down $4.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $194.88. The stock had a trading volume of 365,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 255,807. Herc has a twelve month low of $124.70 and a twelve month high of $246.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.27, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 2.02. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.81.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $4.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.48 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $965.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $931.33 million. Herc had a return on equity of 26.35% and a net margin of 10.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.00 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Herc will post 13.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.75%.

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.