UBS Group AG Increases Stock Holdings in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

UBS Group AG lifted its stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 83.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 189,925 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 86,282 shares during the quarter. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Herc were worth $28,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake 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 period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Herc in the third quarter worth about $7,876,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake 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 period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake 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 period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Herc in the third quarter worth about $709,000. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HRI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Herc from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research downgraded Herc from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on Herc from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Herc from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Herc in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $165.67.

Herc Stock Performance

NYSE:HRI opened at $133.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.45 and a 1 year high of $188.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.77. The company has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -494.90, a PEG ratio of 26.65 and a beta of 1.90.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. Herc had a positive return on equity of 10.72% and a negative net margin of 0.11%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Herc

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.