Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Boosts Stock Position in Herc Holdings Inc. $HRI

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 39.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 15,326 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,343 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Herc were worth $2,274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Herc during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new stake in Herc during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Herc during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 628.8% during the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 430 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 438 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on HRI. Zacks Research downgraded Herc from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Herc in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Herc from $165.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Herc from $190.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Herc from $200.00 to $198.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Herc currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.67.

Herc Stock Performance

Shares of HRI stock opened at $132.85 on Friday. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $88.45 and a 12-month high of $188.35. The company has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -492.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 31.13 and a beta of 1.81. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The transportation company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.42. Herc had a positive return on equity of 10.72% and a negative net margin of 0.11%.The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.06 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. Herc’s quarterly revenue was up 32.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 18th. Herc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,037.04%.

Herc Profile

Herc Holdings Inc (NYSE: HRI) operates as a leading equipment rental provider in North America, offering a wide range of machinery and support services to construction, industrial, government and event sectors. The company’s fleet includes aerial work platforms, earthmoving equipment, material handling solutions, power generation units and specialty tools, enabling clients to scale their operations without the capital expense of ownership. In addition to basic machinery rentals, Herc provides value-added services such as equipment maintenance, on-site safety training and project consulting to help customers optimize productivity and maintain compliance with industry standards.

Founded as part of Hertz Global Holdings, the equipment rental business was spun off as an independent public company in early 2016.