Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Short Interest Update

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,540,000 shares, a growth of 61.4% from the February 13th total of 954,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 436,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 5.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HRI. Argent Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Herc by 38.2% during the 4th quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 6,907 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,910 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Herc by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 665,904 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $106,165,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares in the last quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD raised its stake in shares of Herc by 324.6% during the 3rd quarter. TT International Asset Management LTD now owns 14,346 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,287,000 after buying an additional 10,967 shares in the last quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 82,863 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $13,211,000 after buying an additional 17,315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP raised its stake in shares of Herc by 461.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 23,922 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $3,814,000 after buying an additional 19,659 shares in the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Herc has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $219.75.

Herc Trading Up 5.9 %

Shares of HRI stock traded up $7.21 on Friday, hitting $129.46. The stock had a trading volume of 527,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,255. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 2.14. Herc has a 1 year low of $119.60 and a 1 year high of $246.88. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $178.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.11.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.98 by ($0.40). Herc had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 5.91%. The company had revenue of $934.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $919.84 million. Analysts anticipate that Herc will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.79%.

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.