Phocas Financial Corp. Buys 5,779 Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Phocas Financial Corp. lifted its stake in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 49,869 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,779 shares during the quarter. Phocas Financial Corp.’s holdings in Herc were worth $7,400,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Herc by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,123,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $481,040,000 after acquiring an additional 413,719 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Herc by 233.1% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 420,512 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $49,057,000 after purchasing an additional 294,265 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Herc by 3,306.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 292,328 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $34,106,000 after purchasing an additional 283,746 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Herc by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 943,722 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $110,095,000 after purchasing an additional 243,320 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Herc by 40.0% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 825,511 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $108,712,000 after purchasing an additional 235,694 shares during the period. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Herc Stock Performance

HRI opened at $91.05 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $134.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.16. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $88.45 and a 52-week high of $188.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of -505.82, a PEG ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 1.81.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The transportation company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Herc had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 0.02%.The business’s revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,555.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HRI has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Herc from $190.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Herc from $185.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Herc from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Herc from $170.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Herc has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.86.

Herc Profile

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.