Legato Capital Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 10,750 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,595,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Herc during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Herc by 78.1% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 358 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Herc by 47.2% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 574 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Herc by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 7,850 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Herc by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,977 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $887,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the period. 93.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Herc Price Performance

NYSE HRI opened at $129.05 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.45 and a 12-month high of $188.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -477.94, a P/E/G ratio of 23.36 and a beta of 1.90.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.42. Herc had a negative net margin of 0.11% and a positive return on equity of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 5.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Herc’s payout ratio is presently -1,037.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on HRI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Herc from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Herc from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Herc from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Herc from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Herc from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $165.67.

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.