First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 13.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 873,338 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 103,047 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 2.62% of Herc worth $86,941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HRI. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Herc by 83.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 189,925 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,181,000 after buying an additional 86,282 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in Herc in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,098,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Herc by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 102,851 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $15,669,000 after acquiring an additional 22,367 shares during the period. Pier Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Herc by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Pier Capital LLC now owns 69,196 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $10,267,000 after acquiring an additional 12,114 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Herc during the fourth quarter valued at $287,269,000. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HRI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Herc from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Herc from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Herc from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Herc in a report on Monday, June 29th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Herc from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Herc currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $173.43.

Herc Trading Down 0.6%

HRI stock opened at $162.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a PE ratio of -601.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 29.64 and a beta of 1.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $142.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. Herc Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.45 and a fifty-two week high of $188.35.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.42. Herc had a negative net margin of 0.11% and a positive return on equity of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,037.04%.

Herc Company 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.