Herc (NYSE:HRI) Trading 9.6% Higher - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Shares of Herc Holdings jumped 9.6% on Tuesday to around $136.55 (intraday high $140.36) on ~155,921 shares traded, about 74% below the stock's average daily volume.
• Analysts are mixed: the consensus rating is a Hold with a $159.67 target after several firms trimmed price objectives, while analyst tallies show five Buys, one Hold and two Sells.
• Herc missed earnings (Q1 EPS $0.21 vs. $0.30 expected) but beat revenue estimates ($1.14B vs. $1.08B) with revenue up 32.3% year-over-year, and it pays a quarterly dividend of $0.70 (roughly a 2.0% yield).

Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI - Get Free Report) rose 9.6% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $140.36 and last traded at $136.5490. Approximately 155,921 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 598,185 shares. The stock had previously closed at $124.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HRI shares. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Herc from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Herc from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Herc from $165.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 13th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Herc from $190.00 to $165.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Herc in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $159.67.

Herc Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17, a current ratio of 1.31 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -770.86, a PEG ratio of 28.30 and a beta of 1.81. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $115.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.46.

Herc (NYSE:HRI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Herc had a net margin of 0.02% and a return on equity of 13.21%. Herc's revenue was up 32.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Herc's dividend payout ratio is currently -1,555.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herc

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Herc by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,608 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 20.3% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 438 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Midwest Financial Group LLC now owns 2,153 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 2,717 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Herc by 53.1% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 248 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. 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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