Polaris (NYSE:PII) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Polaris (NYSE:PII) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PII. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Polaris from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Polaris from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Polaris from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $103.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Polaris in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Polaris in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.27.

Polaris Price Performance

NYSE PII opened at $83.36 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.57. Polaris has a 52 week low of $82.00 and a 52 week high of $138.49. The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

Polaris (NYSE:PII) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.17. Polaris had a return on equity of 31.39% and a net margin of 4.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 20.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Polaris will post 7.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Polaris by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,757,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $640,447,000 after purchasing an additional 160,918 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Polaris by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,807,482 shares of the company’s stock valued at $550,375,000 after purchasing an additional 48,179 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Polaris by 8.9% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,477,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,993,000 after purchasing an additional 202,794 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Polaris during the first quarter valued at approximately $108,890,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Polaris by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 851,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,663,000 after acquiring an additional 82,779 shares during the period. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.