First Eagle Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 31.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,059 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 9,750 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Herc were worth $3,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HRI. Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in Herc during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,211,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Herc in the fourth quarter worth $62,982,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Herc in the third quarter worth $35,996,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Herc by 578.8% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 231,130 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $43,760,000 after buying an additional 197,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Herc by 117.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 116,512 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $19,739,000 after buying an additional 62,883 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Herc currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $219.75.

Herc Trading Up 5.9 %

Shares of HRI opened at $129.46 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $178.66 and its 200 day moving average is $184.11. Herc Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.60 and a fifty-two week high of $246.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $919.84 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Herc Increases Dividend

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

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.