Sterling Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII)

Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) by 58.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,095 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Polaris were worth $178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PII. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Polaris by 20.2% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Polaris during the 3rd quarter valued at $535,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Polaris by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 169,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,745,000 after acquiring an additional 18,418 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Polaris by 232.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Polaris by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 28,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,676,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Polaris from $69.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Polaris from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Roth Mkm decreased their price target on Polaris from $76.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Polaris in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Polaris from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Polaris currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.64.

Polaris Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PII opened at $33.04 on Tuesday. Polaris Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.92 and a 1 year high of $90.62. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $40.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.34. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.32.

Polaris (NYSE:PII) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 13.78% and a net margin of 1.54%. On average, research analysts predict that Polaris Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Polaris Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 8.11%. This is an increase 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%.

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.