New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 135,129 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,069 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.48% of Herc worth $20,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Herc by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,837,432 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $337,484,000 after buying an additional 23,444 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Herc by 37.8% in 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. Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 585,029 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $69,583,000 after purchasing an additional 107,708 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Herc by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 466,119 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $69,400,000 after purchasing an additional 11,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Herc by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 453,550 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,945,000 after purchasing an additional 98,648 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Herc from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Herc currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.50.

Herc Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE HRI opened at $152.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.95. The business has a 50-day moving average of $159.08 and a 200-day moving average of $141.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.27. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $93.97 and a 12 month high of $171.00.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last announced its 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). The company had revenue of $831.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $858.06 million. Herc had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 28.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.97%.

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.