State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Grows Position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,977 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,484 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.07% of Herc worth $3,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HRI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Herc by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,837,432 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $337,484,000 after purchasing an additional 23,444 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Herc by 37.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,667,255 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $198,303,000 after buying an additional 457,697 shares during the period. Electron Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Herc by 22.6% in the third quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 585,029 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $69,583,000 after buying an additional 107,708 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Herc by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 466,119 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $69,400,000 after acquiring an additional 11,408 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Herc by 27.8% in the third quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC now owns 453,550 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $53,945,000 after acquiring an additional 98,648 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Herc Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Herc stock opened at $152.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.95, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.44. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.97 and a 1 year high of $171.00. The firm has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a PE ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.80.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $858.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.665 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. This is a positive change from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. Herc’s payout ratio is 21.97%.

Insider Transactions at Herc

In related news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total transaction of $564,009.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,560,647.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Herc from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.50.

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.