Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. Acquires 69,766 Shares of Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII)

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,775,331 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,766 shares during the period. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.’s holdings in Polaris were worth $159,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Polaris by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,101 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Polaris by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 28,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,676,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Polaris by 187.4% in 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. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Polaris by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 3,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Polaris by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 5,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $343,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.06% of the company’s stock.

Polaris Trading Down 4.3 %

PII opened at $41.37 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of 21.11, a P/E/G ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.54. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.29 and a fifty-two week high of $100.91. The company’s 50-day moving average is $45.90 and its 200 day moving average is $61.44.

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

Polaris Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Polaris’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 136.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Polaris from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (down previously from $81.00) on shares of Polaris in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Polaris from $64.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Polaris from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Polaris from $67.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Polaris presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.83.

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.