Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Short Interest Up 23.7% in March

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,350,000 shares, an increase of 23.7% from the March 15th total of 1,900,000 shares. Currently, 8.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 527,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herc

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Herc by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,019 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Herc by 49.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 52,058 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $8,299,000 after purchasing an additional 17,236 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Herc by 117.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 116,512 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $19,739,000 after purchasing an additional 62,883 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Herc by 13.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 103,724 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $16,537,000 after purchasing an additional 11,945 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Herc by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 102,440 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $19,474,000 after buying an additional 2,611 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Herc from $129.00 to $110.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Herc from $225.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Herc from $165.00 to $140.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $146.00 price target (down previously from $171.00) on shares of Herc in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Herc from $250.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Herc has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $139.20.

Herc Price Performance

HRI stock traded down $3.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $108.38. 415,990 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 361,175. Herc has a 52-week low of $96.19 and a 52-week high of $246.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.93. 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $130.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.48.

Herc (NYSE:HRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($1.21). Herc had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The firm had revenue of $861.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $841.67 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.36 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Herc will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This is an increase from Herc's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Herc's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.79%.

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.