Hertz Global Holdings Inc. climbed to a record after CNBC reported that billionaire Carl Icahn bought as many as 40 million of the car-rental company’s shares.

The shares rose 1.9 percent to $29.22 at 11:32 a.m. in New York. Earlier, they reached $29.81, the highest intraday price since Hertz’s November 2006 initial public offering.

Hertz, the largest publicly traded U.S. rental-car company, on Dec. 30 said it adopted a shareholder rights plan after seeing “unusual and substantial activity” in its stock. CNBC today reported that Icahn may have acquired 30 million to 40 million shares in the Park Ridge, New Jersey-based company.

Assuming that position, Icahn would be Hertz’s second-biggest shareholder after Wellington Management, which had 41 million shares for a 9.2 percent stake as of Sept. 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.