Sterling Capital Management LLC Sells 9,231 Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Sterling Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,258 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 9,231 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Herc were worth $1,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Herc by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,164,022 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $115,872,000 after purchasing an additional 170,189 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Herc by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 873,338 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $86,941,000 after purchasing an additional 103,047 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Herc in the 2nd quarter valued at about $86,054,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Herc by 147.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 235,320 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $23,426,000 after purchasing an additional 140,355 shares during the period. Finally, Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Herc in the first quarter valued at about $21,866,000. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Herc from $218.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Herc from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 12th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on Herc from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Herc from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Herc from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.86.

Herc Stock Down 0.4%

Herc stock opened at $127.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.79 and a beta of 2.04. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $88.45 and a 1-year high of $188.35. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.22.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. Herc had a return on equity of 10.33% and a net margin of 1.01%. Herc’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.87 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 7.30 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 2nd. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is presently 190.48%.

About Herc

Herc Holdings Inc, operating primarily through the Herc Rentals brand, is an equipment rental supplier serving construction, industrial, commercial and government customers. The company provides access to equipment and related services intended to help customers complete projects without purchasing and maintaining their own fleets.

Its rental fleet includes aerial work platforms, earthmoving equipment, material-handling equipment, trucks and trailers, power generation and climate-control equipment, pumps, and general tools.