Polymer Capital Management US LLC Buys New Position in Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII)

Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 7,416 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Polaris by 132.6% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 900,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,909,000 after acquiring an additional 513,542 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Polaris in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,659,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Polaris during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,776,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Polaris by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 995,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,382,000 after buying an additional 244,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Polaris by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 776,473 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,740,000 after purchasing an additional 241,926 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PII has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Polaris from $67.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup downgraded Polaris from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $33.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Polaris from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Polaris from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Polaris from $69.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Polaris presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.50.

Polaris Stock Performance

PII opened at $36.67 on Monday. Polaris Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.61 and a 1-year high of $100.00. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.71.

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

Polaris Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.31%. This is a boost from Polaris’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Polaris’s dividend payout ratio is presently 136.73%.

Polaris Company Profile

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.