Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Acquires 1,090 Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 18.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,854 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Herc were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HRI. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Herc by 51.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,589,703 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $294,967,000 after purchasing an additional 878,615 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Herc by 37.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,667,255 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $198,303,000 after purchasing an additional 457,697 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Herc by 374.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 366,165 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $48,176,000 after purchasing an additional 289,049 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Herc in the fourth quarter worth about $31,318,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Herc by 25.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 565,496 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $64,410,000 after purchasing an additional 116,106 shares during the period. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Herc has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.50.

Herc Price Performance

NYSE HRI traded down $0.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $150.09. 254,081 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 184,281. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $158.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.09. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.27. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.97 and a 1-year high of $171.00.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $831.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $858.06 million. Herc had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 30.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 13.86 EPS for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. Herc’s payout ratio is presently 21.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herc

In other Herc news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of Herc stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total transaction of $564,009.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,560,647.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

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.