On Aug. 25, Larry Robbins (Trades, Portfolio) of Glenview Capital Management made a substantial investment in Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. (HTZ, Financial) buying 6.13 million shares for approximately $100.65 million. Robbins is Glenview Capital Management’s founder and lead portfolio manager. His hedge fund currently manages $25.2 billion in equity investments.
His Aug. 25 stock buy increased his ownership of Hertz’s outstanding shares to 5.17%. Hertz is a consumer services travel and leisure company focused on the car rental business. The company manages car rental brands Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty and Firefly. The Florida-based company has a market cap of $8.09 billion.
The company’s three main business segments generated 95% of revenue in the second quarter. These segments included U.S. Car Rental, International Car Rental and Worldwide Equipment Rental. In the second quarter the firm had revenue of $2.7 billion. Revenue was down 4.9% from the comparable quarter and missed analysts’ average estimate just slightly by $20 million. Earnings per share for the quarter were in line with estimates at $0.19.
In July the company completed its required restatement of its regulatory filings for years 2011 through 2014. Since the restated filings the company’s stock has gained 3.64%. In July the company also reported that it would be selling its Hertz Equipment Rental business to focus more directly on car rental activity.
In August the stock continued to gain, outperforming the broader market and its car rental peers in the industry. In the month of August Hertz’s stock gained 8.48% versus car rental companies United Rentals, Inc. (URI, Financial) and Avis Budget Group, Inc. (CAR, Financial) which had returns of 3.49% and 1.61%, respectively. In August, the large car rental companies outperformed the S&P 500 which returned -6.26% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average which returned -6.58%.
Robbins is also an owner of Avis. He holds 8.4 million shares of Avis for a total company percentage of 8.08%. In consumer services overall, Robbins has $4.4 billion invested for a total portfolio share of 17%. In Avis and Hertz, Robbins has a combined $389.68 million totaling 1.55% of his portfolio overall.
Robbins’ buy-in also occurs at the same time as numerous other insider stock buy-ins from Hertz executives during the month of August. In August, insiders bought 217,450 shares. John Tague, president and chief executive offv icer, bought 150,000 shares. Tyler Best, executive vice president and chief investment officer, also bought shares in August acquiring 27,450 shares during the month.
