Primo Water (NYSE:PRMW) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Primo Water (NYSE:PRMW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on PRMW. CIBC increased their price objective on Primo Water from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an outperformer rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Primo Water in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Primo Water from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Primo Water from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $25.83.

Primo Water Price Performance

PRMW opened at $24.98 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.10. Primo Water has a fifty-two week low of $12.92 and a fifty-two week high of $25.60. The firm has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.10.

Primo Water (NYSE:PRMW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $485.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $477.40 million. Primo Water had a return on equity of 8.94% and a net margin of 12.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Primo Water will post 0.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Primo Water Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Primo Water’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Primo Water

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PRMW. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Primo Water by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 1,402 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Primo Water by 77.2% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 334,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,305,000 after purchasing an additional 145,561 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Primo Water by 2.2% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 189,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,141,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Primo Water by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 55,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after purchasing an additional 2,435 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Primo Water in the 2nd quarter worth about $838,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.71% of the company’s stock.

About Primo Water

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.