Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) Short Interest Down 24.6% in March

Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,080,000 shares, a decrease of 24.6% from the February 28th total of 8,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,650,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Approximately 11.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Polaris from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup lowered shares of Polaris from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Polaris from $64.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com cut Polaris from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Polaris from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Polaris has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Polaris

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Polaris by 386.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in shares of Polaris in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Polaris by 295.4% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 518 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Polaris by 187.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of Polaris by 191.1% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,214 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Polaris Price Performance

Shares of PII stock traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $41.32. 1,086,057 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 994,281. Polaris has a 52 week low of $39.29 and a 52 week high of $100.00. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $45.34 and its 200-day moving average is $60.66.

Polaris (NYSE:PII) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.03. Polaris had a net margin of 1.54% and a return on equity of 13.78%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Polaris will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Polaris Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.49%. This is a positive change from Polaris’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Polaris’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 136.73%.

About Polaris

Polaris Inc designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets powersports vehicles in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Off-Road, On-Road, and Marine. The company offers off-road vehicles (ORVs), including all-terrain vehicles and side-by-side vehicles; military and commercial ORVs; snowmobiles; motorcycles; and moto-roadsters, quadricycles, and boats.