HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 888 Shares of Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,238 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 888 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Polaris were worth $302,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Polaris during the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,776,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Polaris by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 776,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,740,000 after buying an additional 241,926 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Polaris in the 3rd quarter valued at $12,670,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Polaris in the third quarter valued at about $10,844,000. Finally, Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Polaris by 34.8% during the 4th quarter. Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management Inc. now owns 265,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,299,000 after acquiring an additional 68,537 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Polaris from $67.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Polaris from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (down from $81.00) on shares of Polaris in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut Polaris from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Polaris in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.83.

Polaris Trading Up 0.9 %

Polaris stock opened at $41.32 on Wednesday. Polaris Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.29 and a 52 week high of $100.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 1.15.

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

Polaris Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Polaris’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Polaris’s payout ratio is currently 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.