JPMorgan Chase & Co. Decreases Position in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Key Points

• JPMorgan cut its stake in Herc by 48.5% in Q3, selling 53,683 shares and leaving it with 56,976 shares valued at about $6.65 million; overall institutional ownership stands at 93.11%.
• Equity analysts hold a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a mean price target of $171.86 (6 Buys, 2 Holds, 1 Sell), though individual price targets have been both raised and lowered recently.
• Herc beat quarterly EPS expectations ($2.07 vs. $1.87) but missed revenue estimates, trades near $100 with a one-year range of $96.18–$188.35, pays a $0.70 quarterly dividend (2.8% yield), and shows high leverage (debt/equity 4.17) and a negative P/E.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI - Free Report) by 48.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,976 shares of the transportation company's stock after selling 53,683 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.17% of Herc worth $6,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Herc by 176.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 25,782 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $3,462,000 after purchasing an additional 16,470 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Herc by 25.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 263,180 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $35,337,000 after buying an additional 53,054 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Herc in the 2nd quarter worth $267,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 16.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 37,981 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $5,002,000 after acquiring an additional 5,366 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 51,087 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $6,728,000 after acquiring an additional 8,105 shares during the period. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Herc from $190.00 to $165.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Herc from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Herc from $170.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Herc from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Herc from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $171.86.

Herc Stock Performance

Shares of HRI stock opened at $99.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firm has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of -555.43, a P/E/G ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 1.73. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $138.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.96. Herc Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $96.18 and a one year high of $188.35.

Herc (NYSE:HRI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The transportation company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.20. Herc had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 0.02%.The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.58 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 12.84 EPS for the current year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. Herc's payout ratio is currently -1,555.56%.

About Herc

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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