Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,380,000 shares, an increase of 21.8% from the January 15th total of 5,240,000 shares. Approximately 12.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Polaris by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings 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. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of Polaris by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 22,484 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,295,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Polaris by 3.3% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 7,881 shares of the company’s stock valued at $656,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Polaris from $65.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut Polaris from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Polaris from $84.00 to $72.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 30th. KeyCorp downgraded Polaris from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Polaris from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.17.

Polaris Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PII traded up $0.68 during trading on Monday, reaching $45.08. The company had a trading volume of 869,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,099,572. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.39. Polaris has a fifty-two week low of $42.85 and a fifty-two week high of $100.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.15.

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 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Polaris will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Polaris Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.94%. This is a boost from Polaris’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Polaris’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.