Short Interest in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Rises By 12.1%

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 751,000 shares, an increase of 12.1% from the November 30th total of 670,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 349,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Herc

In other Herc news, Director Michael A. Kelly sold 3,880 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.83, for a total transaction of $810,260.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,876,424.42. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Samuel Wade Sheek sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.12, for a total transaction of $1,065,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,600,408.32. This trade represents a 18.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herc

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HRI. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Herc by 27.7% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 281 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Herc by 0.8% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,995 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC raised its holdings in Herc by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 1,945 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Herc by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,019 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in Herc by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upped their target price on Herc from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Herc from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Herc has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $219.75.

Herc Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:HRI opened at $189.62 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $212.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.25. Herc has a 52-week low of $124.70 and a 52-week high of $246.88.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $4.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.48 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $965.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $931.33 million. Herc had a return on equity of 26.35% and a net margin of 10.09%. Herc’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Herc will post 13.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.75%.

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.