Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Stake Boosted by Phocas Financial Corp.

Phocas Financial Corp. raised its holdings in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI - Free Report) by 73.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,192 shares of the transportation company's stock after buying an additional 21,666 shares during the quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. owned about 0.18% of Herc worth $7,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of HRI. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Herc by 60.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 10,319 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $1,724,000 after buying an additional 3,904 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Herc by 90.9% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 315 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Herc by 52.6% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,202 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $2,206,000 after purchasing an additional 4,549 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Herc by 3.3% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 28,368 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $4,740,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Herc in the first quarter valued at about $2,238,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herc

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 transaction of $564,009.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,560,647.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Herc Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of HRI traded down $5.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $157.85. The stock had a trading volume of 291,561 shares, compared to its average volume of 159,505. The business's fifty day moving average is $158.18 and its 200 day moving average is $139.13. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $93.97 and a 52-week high of $171.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.27.

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

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. This is a boost from Herc's previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Herc's dividend payout ratio is presently 21.98%.

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.