Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Short Interest Down 11.6% in February

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 954,400 shares, a decline of 11.6% from the January 31st total of 1,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 384,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $219.75.

Institutional Trading of Herc

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Herc by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,995 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,275,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Herc by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,829 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Herc by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 1,945 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Herc by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,019 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Herc by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE HRI opened at $131.31 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $184.91 and its 200 day moving average is $184.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. Herc has a 12 month low of $124.70 and a 12 month high of $246.88. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 17.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 2.04.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by ($0.40). Herc had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 5.91%. The business had revenue of $934.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $919.84 million. Research analysts predict that Herc will post 12.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is a boost from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. Herc’s payout ratio is currently 37.79%.

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.