Gabelli Funds LLC Acquires 40,304 Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 492,250 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,304 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Herc were worth $57,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Herc by 53.1% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 248 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Herc in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in shares of Herc by 158.2% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 364 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 114.7% in the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 584 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Herc in the third quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Herc from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Herc in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on Herc from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Herc from $170.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Herc from $195.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Herc has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.29.

Herc Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRI opened at $120.30 on Friday. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $96.18 and a 1 year high of $188.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -668.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 17.77 and a beta of 1.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $156.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.57.

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

Herc Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Herc’s payout ratio is -1,555.56%.

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.