Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Has $6.75 Million Stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 117.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 45,321 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,491 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Herc were worth $6,748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRI. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 363.0% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 338 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 90.9% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 315 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 152.5% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 803 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 227.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 704 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 95.8% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 507 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Herc

In other news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 41,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,560,647.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Herc Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Herc stock traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $150.88. 67,473 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 189,411. The company has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 2.27. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.44. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $93.97 and a 52 week high of $171.00.

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

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.665 per share. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Herc’s payout ratio is presently 21.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on HRI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.50.

Herc 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.