Short Interest in Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) Expands By 17.7%

Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of 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 shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PII has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp cut shares of Polaris from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Polaris from $69.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Polaris from $64.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of Polaris from $76.00 to $57.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Polaris from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.83.

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Polaris Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PII traded down $0.19 on Friday, reaching $41.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,628,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 966,119. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a PEG ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.54. Polaris has a 52-week low of $39.29 and a 52-week high of $100.91. The stock's 50-day moving average is $47.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.64. 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 (NYSE:PII - Get Free Report) last posted 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Polaris will post 1.11 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from Polaris's previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.39%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Polaris's dividend payout ratio is currently 136.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PII. RWWM Inc. raised its holdings in Polaris by 377.4% during the fourth quarter. RWWM Inc. now owns 889,698 shares of the company's stock worth $51,264,000 after purchasing an additional 703,322 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Polaris by 132.6% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 900,891 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,909,000 after buying an additional 513,542 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Polaris in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,659,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Polaris by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,156,285 shares of the company's stock valued at $354,725,000 after buying an additional 388,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Polaris in the fourth quarter valued at about $21,776,000. 88.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.