Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Raises Stock Position in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 86,823.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,335,138 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,333,602 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned 4.01% of Herc worth $198,108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRI. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Herc by 176.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 25,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $3,462,000 after acquiring an additional 16,470 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Herc by 25.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 263,180 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,337,000 after acquiring an additional 53,054 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in Herc in the second quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Herc by 12,425.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 20,918 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,755,000 after acquiring an additional 20,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Herc by 9.0% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 53,728 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,075,000 after acquiring an additional 4,451 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Stock Performance

Shares of HRI opened at $138.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24. The firm has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of -513.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 25.03 and a beta of 1.90. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.05. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.45 and a 12-month high of $188.35.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.42. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. Herc had a negative net margin of 0.11% and a positive return on equity of 10.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 5.31 EPS for the current year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -1,037.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Herc from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Herc in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price 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. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Herc from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Herc from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $165.67.

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.