Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) Short Interest Update

Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,060,000 shares, an increase of 17.7% from the February 13th total of 6,850,000 shares. Approximately 15.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Polaris

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PII. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Polaris by 187.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in Polaris during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Polaris by 386.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 506 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Polaris by 295.4% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 518 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Polaris by 232.6% during 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 period. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PII has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp downgraded shares of 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 objective (down previously from $81.00) on shares of Polaris in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Polaris from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Polaris from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered their price target on Polaris from $76.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.50.

Polaris Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of PII traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.56. 1,125,411 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,754,105. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.37. Polaris has a 12-month low of $39.79 and a 12-month high of $100.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.54.

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

Polaris Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Polaris’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.30%. 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.