Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) was the target of 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. Currently, 5.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 436,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Herc

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 878.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 186 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in Herc by 646.7% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 224 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Herc by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 230 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Herc during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Herc by 70.4% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 322 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Stock Performance

Shares of HRI traded up $7.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $129.46. The company had a trading volume of 527,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,255. Herc has a 52-week low of $119.60 and a 52-week high of $246.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 2.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $178.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.11.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its 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). The company had revenue of $934.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $919.84 million. Herc had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 5.91%. On average, analysts expect that Herc will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

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

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.