California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Stake in Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 104,092 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,068 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.19% of Polaris worth $5,998,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Polaris by 132.6% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 900,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,909,000 after purchasing an additional 513,542 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Polaris in the fourth quarter worth approximately $24,659,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Polaris during the 4th quarter valued at $21,776,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Polaris by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 995,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,382,000 after acquiring an additional 244,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Polaris by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 776,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,740,000 after purchasing an additional 241,926 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Polaris Trading Down 5.1 %

Shares of PII stock opened at $34.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.32. Polaris Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.61 and a fifty-two week high of $100.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.35.

Polaris (NYSE:PII) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Polaris Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Polaris Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Polaris’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.69%. Polaris’s payout ratio is 136.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PII has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird downgraded Polaris from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday. Citigroup lowered Polaris from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $49.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Polaris from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Polaris from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Polaris from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.50.

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.