Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Short Interest Down 5.8% in March

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 675,900 shares, a decrease of 5.8% from the February 29th total of 717,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 180,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Herc Trading Down 1.2 %

HRI stock traded down $1.95 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $166.35. 173,512 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 186,311. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 2.27. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.45. Herc has a 12-month low of $93.97 and a 12-month high of $171.00.

Herc (NYSE:HRI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.29 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $831.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $858.06 million. Herc had a return on equity of 30.21% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Herc will post 13.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a $0.665 dividend. This is a positive change from Herc's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Herc's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. KeyCorp cut shares of Herc from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 4th.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total value of $564,009.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,236 shares in the company, valued at $6,560,647.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of HRI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Herc by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,898,147 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $431,505,000 after buying an additional 60,715 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Herc in the fourth quarter valued at $914,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 605,387 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $90,136,000 after purchasing an additional 20,358 shares in the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD bought a new stake in shares of Herc during the fourth quarter valued at about $635,000. Finally, Pier Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Pier Capital LLC now owns 59,091 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $8,798,000 after purchasing an additional 7,653 shares in the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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