Kovack Advisors Inc. Takes $321,000 Position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

Kovack Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,158 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 457,697 shares during the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Herc by 22.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Channing Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Herc by 27.8% during 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 last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its position in Herc by 653.3% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 56,500 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $6,720,000 after acquiring an additional 49,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Herc by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 350,401 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $41,677,000 after buying an additional 45,427 shares during the period. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on HRI. StockNews.com raised Herc from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One equities research 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.50.

Insider Transactions at Herc

In other Herc news, COO Aaron Birnbaum sold 5,844 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.33, for a total transaction of $890,216.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 48,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,347,180.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Tamir Peres sold 3,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.10, for a total transaction of $564,009.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,560,647.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Aaron Birnbaum sold 5,844 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.33, for a total transaction of $890,216.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 48,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,347,180.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Herc Stock Up 0.2 %

HRI stock opened at $152.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 2.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.95. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.29. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $93.97 and a 1-year high of $171.00.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $831.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $858.06 million. Herc had a return on equity of 28.68% and a net margin of 10.31%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.44 earnings per share. Herc’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 14.59 EPS for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.97%.

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.