Herc (NYSE:HRI) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

Herc (NYSE:HRI) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.50.

Herc Trading Up 0.1 %

HRI stock opened at $153.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.27. The business’s 50-day moving average is $158.98 and its 200 day moving average is $141.30. Herc has a 12-month low of $93.97 and a 12-month high of $171.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.29 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $831.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $858.06 million. Herc had a return on equity of 29.38% and a net margin of 10.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Herc will post 14.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 41,236 shares in the company, valued at $6,560,647.60. The sale 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herc

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Herc by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,898,147 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $431,505,000 after purchasing an additional 60,715 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Herc by 37.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,667,255 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $198,303,000 after purchasing an additional 457,697 shares in the last quarter. Theleme Partners LLP boosted its stake in Herc by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 817,891 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $121,776,000 after acquiring an additional 169,886 shares in the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Herc by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 605,387 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $90,136,000 after acquiring an additional 20,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Herc by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 499,502 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $74,371,000 after acquiring an additional 45,952 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

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.