GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. Acquires New Stake in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

GABELLI & Co INVESTMENT ADVISERS INC. bought a new position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 5,350 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Herc during the first quarter worth about $779,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Herc by 42.2% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 16,738 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,247,000 after acquiring an additional 4,971 shares in the last quarter. A&I Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Herc during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $636,000. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP grew its stake in shares of Herc by 4,727.3% during the 2nd quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP now owns 18,006 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,187,000 after acquiring an additional 17,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its stake in shares of Herc by 27.9% during the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 6,523 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 1,423 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HRI. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Herc from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $200.00 price target on shares of Herc in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Herc from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Herc from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Baird R W raised Herc from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.33.

Herc Stock Performance

Shares of HRI stock opened at $141.42 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $130.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.64. Herc Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $96.18 and a one year high of $235.40. The stock has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -56.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.28, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The transportation company reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Herc had a negative net margin of 1.68% and a positive return on equity of 16.32%. The company had revenue of $745.00 million for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts predict that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 12.84 EPS for the current year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is currently -111.11%.

About Herc

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.