Herc (NYSE:HRI) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Citigroup

Citigroup started coverage on shares of Herc (NYSE:HRI) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $165.00 price objective on the transportation company’s stock.

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Herc from $234.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Herc presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.20.

Herc Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:HRI opened at $140.66 on Monday. Herc has a 52 week low of $119.60 and a 52 week high of $246.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $170.45 and its 200-day moving average is $183.88. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 2.14.

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

Herc Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. This is a positive change from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Herc

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Herc by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,066,892 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $580,655,000 after purchasing an additional 27,578 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Herc by 435.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,419,015 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $268,662,000 after buying an additional 1,154,182 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Herc by 69.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,245,168 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $235,748,000 after buying an additional 508,359 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Herc during the fourth quarter worth about $183,786,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Herc by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 812,270 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $153,787,000 after acquiring an additional 6,777 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

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.