Short Interest in Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) Declines By 24.6%

Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,080,000 shares, a drop of 24.6% from the February 28th total of 8,060,000 shares. Approximately 11.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Polaris

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PII. Quarry LP boosted its position in Polaris by 187.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 388 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Polaris during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 402 shares during the period. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Polaris by 295.4% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 518 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Polaris by 232.6% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 968 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Polaris Stock Down 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE:PII opened at $41.37 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $45.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.21. Polaris has a 12-month low of $39.29 and a 12-month high of $100.91.

Polaris (NYSE:PII) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.03. Polaris had a net margin of 1.54% and a return on equity of 13.78%. On average, research analysts forecast that Polaris will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Polaris Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.48%. This is a boost from Polaris’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Polaris’s payout ratio is presently 136.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PII. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Polaris from $67.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Polaris in a report on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp lowered Polaris from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Bank of America cut their price target on Polaris from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Polaris from $69.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.