Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Shares Sold by D.A. Davidson & CO.

D.A. Davidson & CO. lessened its stake in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,811 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 8,699 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Herc were worth $6,780,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Herc by 8.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 736,809 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $117,470,000 after purchasing an additional 56,191 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Herc by 0.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 665,904 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $106,165,000 after acquiring an additional 3,006 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Herc by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 637,070 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $101,589,000 after purchasing an additional 6,874 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Herc by 6.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 395,229 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $63,011,000 after purchasing an additional 23,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Herc during the fourth quarter valued at about $71,211,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of HRI stock opened at $179.71 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $196.57 and its 200-day moving average is $183.74. The stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.04. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $124.70 and a 52-week high of $246.88.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by ($0.40). Herc had a net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The company had revenue of $934.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $919.84 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 15.09 EPS for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on HRI. Barclays lifted their target price on Herc from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Herc from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $219.75.

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.