HERC HOLDINGS INC (HRI) — payout ratio, two ways
Fiscal year ending 2025-12-31 · sector Consumer discretionary · payout ratios computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | 8.0% | Before capital spending, so it understates the payout that free cash flow shows. |
| Free cash flow | 9.4% | What is left after maintaining the business. |
No GAAP earnings figure is shown. This company does not report the inputs for it in its XBRL filings — capital expenditure, in particular, is often folded into a single investing total rather than tagged on its own. The figure is absent from the filings, not zero, and inventing one from a balance-sheet movement would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Spread between highest and lowest: 1 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
Coverage rating 56 / 100 — Tight. ? Peer standing 46/50Direction 10/30Stability 0/20
Free cash flow payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 9.4% |
| 2024-12-31 | 7.2% |
| 2023-12-31 | 7.8% |
| 2022-12-31 | 8.4% |
| 2021-12-31 | 2.2% |
| 2011-12-31 | 1.2% |
Coverage worsened sharply this year, 7.2% to 9.4%, after no clear trend before it. One year is not a trend, but it is worth knowing which direction the last one moved.
Among the 45 consumer discretionary companies here, 91% pay out a larger share on this basis — this is comfortable for the sector.
The arithmetic
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $87.0m ÷ operating cash flow $1,085.0m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $87.0m ÷ (operating cash flow $1,085.0m − capex $157.0m)
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-17 · accession
0001364479-26-000050
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Caveats on this company
- basis discarded as outside the sane band (distribution far larger than the year's income — usually a special dividend or a return of capital, not a payout ratio): earnings
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.