Herc (NYSE:HRI) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

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

Herc Price Performance

HRI opened at $153.99 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. Herc has a 1 year low of $93.97 and a 1 year high of $171.00. The firm 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.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.29 by ($0.05). Herc had a return on equity of 29.38% and a net margin of 10.31%. The company had revenue of $831.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $858.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.44 earnings per share. Herc’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Herc will post 14.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Herc news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of Herc stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total value of $564,009.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,560,647.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Herc

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

About Herc

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.