Whitebox Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Whitebox Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 45.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,130 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Whitebox Advisors LLC’s holdings in Herc were worth $1,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Herc by 176.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 25,782 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,462,000 after buying an additional 16,470 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Herc by 25.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 263,180 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,337,000 after acquiring an additional 53,054 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in Herc during the second quarter valued at $267,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Herc by 12,425.7% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 20,918 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,755,000 after acquiring an additional 20,751 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in Herc by 9.0% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 53,728 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,075,000 after acquiring an additional 4,451 shares during the period. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on HRI. Weiss Ratings raised Herc from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Herc from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Herc from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Herc from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Herc in a report on Monday, June 29th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $160.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $173.43.

Herc Price Performance

NYSE HRI opened at $162.33 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a PE ratio of -601.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 29.52 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. The business’s fifty day moving average is $142.83 and its 200 day moving average is $137.13. Herc Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $88.45 and a fifty-two week high of $188.35.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.42. Herc had a positive return on equity of 10.72% and a negative net margin of 0.11%.The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Herc’s payout ratio is -1,037.04%.

Herc 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.