Phocas Financial Corp. Increases Stock Position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

Phocas Financial Corp. boosted its stake in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 73.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,192 shares of the transportation company’s stock after buying an additional 21,666 shares during the quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. owned 0.18% of Herc worth $7,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Herc by 90.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 315 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Herc by 363.0% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 338 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 95.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 507 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Herc in the first quarter valued at approximately $109,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 227.4% in the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 704 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th.

Herc Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE HRI traded down $5.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $157.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 291,561 shares, compared to its average volume of 159,505. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $158.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $139.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.27. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.97 and a 1 year 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.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by ($0.05). Herc had a return on equity of 30.21% and a net margin of 10.58%. The firm had revenue of $831.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $858.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 13.86 EPS for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a $0.665 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Herc’s payout ratio is currently 21.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total transaction of $564,009.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,560,647.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Herc

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.