First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 103,047 Shares of Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 13.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 873,338 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 103,047 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Herc were worth $86,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Herc by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,123,437 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $481,040,000 after acquiring an additional 413,719 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Herc during the 4th quarter worth $287,269,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Herc by 86,823.0% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,335,138 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $198,108,000 after buying an additional 1,333,602 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Herc by 17.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,164,022 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $115,872,000 after acquiring an additional 170,189 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Herc by 40.0% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 825,511 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $108,712,000 after acquiring an additional 235,694 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE HRI opened at $162.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a PE ratio of -601.21, a P/E/G ratio of 29.64 and a beta of 1.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $142.83 and a 200 day moving average of $137.28. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $88.45 and a 1 year high of $188.35. 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 (NYSE:HRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.42. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Herc Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HRI. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Herc from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research upgraded Herc from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Herc from $140.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Herc from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Herc in a research note on Monday, June 29th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $173.43.

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.