River Road Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW)

River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW) by 59.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 407,900 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 151,577 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Primo Water were worth $6,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Primo Water by 66.7% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 84,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,198,000 after buying an additional 33,637 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Primo Water by 0.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,991,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,877,000 after buying an additional 48,820 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Primo Water by 4.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 978,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,943,000 after buying an additional 39,817 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Primo Water by 2.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,471,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,217,000 after buying an additional 280,207 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Primo Water by 374.8% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 293,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,186,000 after buying an additional 231,727 shares during the period. 87.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Primo Water Price Performance

Shares of PRMW opened at $17.82 on Thursday. Primo Water Co. has a twelve month low of $12.27 and a twelve month high of $18.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.12.

Primo Water (NYSE:PRMW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.10). Primo Water had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 10.82%. The company had revenue of $438.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $582.93 million. As a group, analysts predict that Primo Water Co. will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Primo Water Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is an increase from Primo Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Primo Water’s payout ratio is presently 24.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PRMW. StockNews.com lowered shares of Primo Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Primo Water from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Primo Water from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Primo Water from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.75.

Primo Water Profile

Primo Water Corporation provides pure-play water solutions for residential and commercial customers. It offers bottled water, water dispensers, purified bottled water, self-service refill drinking water, premium spring, mineral water, sparkling and flavored essence water, filtration units, and coffee.