Herc (NYSE:HRI) Stock Rating Upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan upgraded Herc from “neutral” to “overweight” and raised its price target from $165 to $175, implying approximately 20.6% upside from the current share price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with six “buy” ratings and three “hold” ratings giving Herc a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $184.43.
• Herc recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.43 in earnings per share versus the $0.76 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 20.2% year over year to $1.20 billion.

Herc (NYSE:HRI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $175.00 price target on the transportation company's stock, up from their previous price target of $165.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.60% from the stock's current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on HRI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Herc from $176.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Herc from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Zacks Research raised Herc from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Herc from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Herc from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Herc has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $184.43.

Herc Price Performance

NYSE:HRI opened at $145.10 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $153.62 and a 200-day moving average of $135.91. Herc has a 52 week low of $88.45 and a 52 week high of $188.35. The company has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.71, a PEG ratio of 20.31 and a beta of 1.86.

Herc (NYSE:HRI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The transportation company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.67. Herc had a net margin of 1.01% and a return on equity of 10.33%. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Herc will post 6.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herc

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Herc during the second quarter worth $68,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 42.1% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 17,353 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $2,487,000 after buying an additional 5,142 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of Herc in the second quarter valued at about $133,000. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in Herc by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,386 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Herc in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,078,000. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company's stock.

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.

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