Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Short Interest Down 6.0% in August

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 932,700 shares, a drop of 6.0% from the August 15th total of 992,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 250,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.7 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Herc in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Herc from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Herc in a research note on Friday, June 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $155.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.50.

Herc Stock Performance

Shares of Herc stock traded down $1.21 on Wednesday, hitting $151.46. 26,622 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 224,025. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $140.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $146.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.61, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 2.07. Herc has a 1 year low of $100.17 and a 1 year high of $171.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.91, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The transportation company reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.94 by ($0.34). Herc had a net margin of 10.00% and a return on equity of 26.99%. The firm had revenue of $848.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $813.05 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Herc will post 13.68 EPS for the current year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herc

In other Herc news, COO Aaron Birnbaum sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.71, for a total transaction of $1,467,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 38,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,609,016.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 5,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.03, for a total transaction of $925,713.63. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 35,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,632,047.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Aaron Birnbaum sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.71, for a total transaction of $1,467,100.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 38,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,609,016.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of HRI. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Herc by 32.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 22,755 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,388,000 after buying an additional 5,544 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in Herc by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,371 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Herc in the 4th quarter valued at $43,505,000. UBS Group AG raised its position in Herc by 110.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 43,605 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,492,000 after purchasing an additional 22,895 shares during the period. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in Herc by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 84,185 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $12,534,000 after purchasing an additional 14,069 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

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.