American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stake in Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Herc Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HRI) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 812,270 shares of the transportation company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,777 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Herc were worth $153,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Herc during the 4th quarter worth $751,000. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Herc by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 2,116 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Herc by 87.4% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 11,767 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,228,000 after buying an additional 5,488 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Herc by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 27,384 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $5,185,000 after buying an additional 2,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RD Lewis Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Herc during the 4th quarter worth $214,000. 93.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Herc Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of HRI stock opened at $135.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $173.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.73. Herc Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.60 and a twelve month high of $246.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99.

Herc (NYSE:HRI) last announced its 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 net margin of 5.91% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The firm had revenue of $934.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $919.84 million. Research analysts forecast that Herc Holdings Inc. will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Herc Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from Herc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. Herc’s payout ratio is presently 37.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Herc from $234.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.50.

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.