Hennessy Advisors Inc. Takes $62.98 Million Position in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 332,659 shares of the transportation company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,982,000. Herc accounts for about 1.9% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HRI. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Herc by 94.6% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,785 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 1,354 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Herc during the 2nd quarter worth $2,577,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Herc by 109.2% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 11,161 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 5,827 shares during the last quarter. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Herc during the second quarter worth about $250,000. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Herc by 99.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 31,106 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,146,000 after purchasing an additional 15,505 shares during the period. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Herc Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HRI opened at $202.94 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $206.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.22. Herc Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $124.70 and a 1-year high of $246.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 16.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 2.06.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The transportation company reported $4.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.48 by ($0.13). Herc had a net margin of 10.09% and a return on equity of 26.35%. The business had revenue of $965.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $931.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.00 EPS. Herc’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 13.59 EPS for the current year.

Herc Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were given a $0.665 dividend. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Herc’s payout ratio is 21.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Herc

In related news, Director Michael A. Kelly sold 3,880 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.83, for a total value of $810,260.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 13,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,876,424.42. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Samuel Wade Sheek sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.12, for a total transaction of $1,065,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,600,408.32. This trade represents a 18.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HRI has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Herc from $204.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Herc from $175.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Herc from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $219.75.

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.