Herc (NYSE:HRI) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Herc (NYSE:HRI) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on HRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Herc from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Herc from $189.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Herc in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Herc from $190.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Herc from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $157.71.

Herc Stock Performance

Shares of HRI stock opened at $100.20 on Tuesday. Herc has a 1-year low of $88.45 and a 1-year high of $188.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.17. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -556.68, a P/E/G ratio of 18.36 and a beta of 1.81. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $125.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.82.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The transportation company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.20. Herc had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 0.02%.The business had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.58 earnings per share. Herc’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Herc will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Herc by 8.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,301,975 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $151,889,000 after buying an additional 97,235 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Herc in the third quarter worth about $7,876,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Herc by 397.5% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,373 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $977,000 after buying an additional 6,690 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Herc by 12.7% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 752,255 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $87,758,000 after buying an additional 84,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Herc by 15.9% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 80,484 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $9,685,000 after buying an additional 11,032 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Company Profile

Herc Holdings Inc (NYSE: HRI) operates as a leading equipment rental provider in North America, offering a wide range of machinery and support services to construction, industrial, government and event sectors. The company’s fleet includes aerial work platforms, earthmoving equipment, material handling solutions, power generation units and specialty tools, enabling clients to scale their operations without the capital expense of ownership. In addition to basic machinery rentals, Herc provides value-added services such as equipment maintenance, on-site safety training and project consulting to help customers optimize productivity and maintain compliance with industry standards.

Founded as part of Hertz Global Holdings, the equipment rental business was spun off as an independent public company in early 2016.