Herc (NYSE:HRI) Trading Down 7.1% After Insider Selling

Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) was down 7.1% on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $141.55 and last traded at $141.96. Approximately 194,067 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 1% from the average daily volume of 195,633 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.82.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on HRI shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Herc from $117.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Herc from $155.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Herc from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.50.

Herc Stock Up 1.0 %

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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of 11.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $159.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.56.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The transportation company reported $3.24 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $858.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 14.59 EPS for the current year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 21st were issued a $0.665 dividend. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.63. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. Herc’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.97%.

Institutional Trading of Herc

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Herc by 213.3% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 235 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Herc by 576.1% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 311 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Herc by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 359 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Herc during the fourth quarter valued at about $108,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Herc during the third quarter valued at about $173,000. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.