Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Makes New Investment in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 9,210 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,237,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HRI. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Herc by 104.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,986,479 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $400,995,000 after acquiring an additional 1,527,244 shares during the last quarter. Coliseum Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Herc by 213.4% in the 1st quarter. Coliseum Capital Management LLC now owns 1,309,989 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $175,892,000 after acquiring an additional 891,979 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Herc by 135.6% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 589,817 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $79,195,000 after acquiring an additional 339,519 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Herc by 200.5% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 274,915 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $36,913,000 after acquiring an additional 183,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Herc by 79.5% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 299,527 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $40,217,000 after acquiring an additional 132,693 shares during the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on HRI. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Herc from $142.00 to $137.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Herc from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Herc from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.60.

Herc Price Performance

HRI opened at $138.51 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $130.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $127.73. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $96.18 and a 12-month high of $246.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 161.06, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.83.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.58. Herc had a return on equity of 20.77% and a net margin of 0.61%.The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $868.23 million. Equities analysts predict that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is currently 325.58%.

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.