Polaris (NYSE:PII) Hits New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday after DA Davidson lowered their price target on the stock from $69.00 to $60.00. DA Davidson currently has a buy rating on the stock. Polaris traded as low as $51.17 and last traded at $51.26, with a volume of 3997969 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $56.52.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on PII. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Polaris from $84.00 to $72.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Polaris from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp lowered Polaris from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down from $81.00) on shares of Polaris in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Polaris from $65.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Polaris presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.82.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Polaris

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PII. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Polaris by 534.5% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 349 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Polaris by 2,431.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its stake in Polaris by 187.4% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Polaris by 232.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Polaris by 19.9% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Polaris Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.41 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $59.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Polaris (NYSE:PII) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.03. Polaris had a return on equity of 13.78% and a net margin of 1.54%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Polaris Inc. will post 1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Polaris Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.48%. This is a positive change from Polaris’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Polaris’s dividend payout ratio is 134.69%.

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.