Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Shares Purchased by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 53.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 418,509 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 145,381 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 1.47% of Herc worth $79,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRI. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Herc by 58.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 561,377 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $106,286,000 after acquiring an additional 208,158 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Herc by 10,700.0% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,800 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 10,700 shares during the period. EAM Investors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Herc in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,070,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Herc during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,498,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Herc by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 54,750 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,692 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on HRI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Herc from $225.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Herc from $165.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Herc from $234.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.20.

Herc Trading Down 5.1 %

HRI opened at $111.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.93. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $108.29 and a 1-year high of $246.88.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.40). Herc had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The company had revenue of $934.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $919.84 million. Analysts expect that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 12.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. This is a positive change from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Herc’s payout ratio is presently 37.79%.

About Herc

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.