Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Short Interest Update

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a growth of 61.4% from the February 13th total of 954,400 shares. Currently, 5.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 436,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Herc Stock Up 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE:HRI opened at $128.17 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $178.66 and a 200-day moving average of $184.42. The company has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a PE ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. Herc has a 52-week low of $119.60 and a 52-week high of $246.88.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by ($0.40). The company had revenue of $934.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $919.84 million. Herc had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 26.48%. On average, equities analysts predict that Herc will post 12.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.79%.

Institutional Trading of Herc

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HRI. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Herc by 878.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 186 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in Herc by 646.7% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 224 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Herc by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Herc by 70.4% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 322 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Herc during the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Herc has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $219.75.

Herc Company Profile

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.