Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $149.20.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on HRI shares. Zacks Research upgraded Herc from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Herc from $170.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $160.00 price target on Herc and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Herc from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herc

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRI. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Herc during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Herc by 1,831.3% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 309 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Herc during the 2nd quarter valued at about $45,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Herc during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in Herc by 158.2% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 364 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of HRI opened at $123.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of 143.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $125.34 and a 200 day moving average of $126.06. Herc has a 52-week low of $96.18 and a 52-week high of $246.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.37.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The transportation company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $868.23 million. Herc had a return on equity of 20.77% and a net margin of 0.61%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Herc will post 12.84 EPS for the current year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. Herc’s payout ratio is currently 325.58%.

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.