Marshall Wace LLP Reduces Stock Position in Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW)

Marshall Wace LLP trimmed its stake in shares of Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW) by 92.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,291 shares of the company’s stock after selling 855,666 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Primo Water were worth $1,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Primo Water by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,159,661 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,003,000 after purchasing an additional 248,774 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Primo Water by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,850,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,945,000 after buying an additional 937,235 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Primo Water by 2.5% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,794,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,953,000 after buying an additional 91,363 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Primo Water by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,713,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,844,000 after buying an additional 312,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Primo Water by 3.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,595,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,868,000 after acquiring an additional 49,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.71% of the company’s stock.

Primo Water Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of PRMW opened at $25.19 on Friday. Primo Water Co. has a 12-month low of $12.92 and a 12-month high of $25.67. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average is $23.07 and its 200 day moving average is $21.36.

Primo Water (NYSE:PRMW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $485.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $477.40 million. Primo Water had a net margin of 12.61% and a return on equity of 8.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Primo Water Co. will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Primo Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Primo Water’s payout ratio is 22.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PRMW. StockNews.com upgraded Primo Water from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Primo Water in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Primo Water from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Primo Water from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Primo Water from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.83.

Primo Water Profile

Primo Water Corporation provides pure-play water solutions for residential and commercial customers. It offers bottled water, water dispensers, purified bottled water, self-service refill drinking water, premium spring, mineral water, sparkling and flavored essence water, filtration units, and coffee.