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

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 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’s holdings in Herc were worth $20,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Herc by 213.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 235 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Herc by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 359 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Herc in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $173,000. Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Herc during the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC purchased a new position in Herc during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Herc

In related news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total value of $564,009.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,560,647.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Herc Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HRI opened at $152.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $159.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.80. Herc Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.97 and a fifty-two week high of $171.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.95, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.51.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.29 by ($0.05). Herc had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 28.68%. The company had revenue of $831.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $858.06 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a $0.665 dividend. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Herc’s payout ratio 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.