American Century Companies Inc. Buys 244,252 Shares of Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Polaris Inc. (NYSE:PII) by 32.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 995,872 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 244,252 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Polaris were worth $57,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of Polaris by 74.0% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 35,944 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,071,000 after purchasing an additional 15,283 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Polaris in the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,776,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Polaris by 371.7% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 28,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 22,835 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Polaris by 45.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 776,473 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,740,000 after acquiring an additional 241,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi bought a new stake in shares of Polaris during the 4th quarter valued at $1,179,000. 88.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PII shares. Bank of America decreased their target price on Polaris from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective (down from $81.00) on shares of Polaris in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp lowered shares of Polaris from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Polaris from $64.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Polaris from $69.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.83.

Polaris Stock Up 3.2 %

PII opened at $42.95 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27. Polaris Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.29 and a 52 week high of $100.91.

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

Polaris Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This is a boost from Polaris’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Polaris’s payout ratio is currently 136.73%.

Polaris Company Profile

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.