Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW) Shares Purchased by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW) by 94.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 306,743 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 149,075 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Primo Water were worth $4,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Primo Water in the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. Point72 Middle East FZE purchased a new position in Primo Water in the 4th quarter worth about $54,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Primo Water by 26.1% in the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 853 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Primo Water by 209.8% in the 4th quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 5,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 3,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Primo Water during the 3rd quarter valued at about $102,000. 87.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Primo Water Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Primo Water stock opened at $18.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Primo Water Co. has a 52-week low of $12.27 and a 52-week high of $18.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.33.

Primo Water (NYSE:PRMW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $438.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $582.93 million. Primo Water had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 8.55%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Primo Water Co. will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Primo Water Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. This is a positive change from Primo Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. Primo Water’s payout ratio is currently 24.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on PRMW. Raymond James cut Primo Water from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com cut Primo Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Primo Water from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on Primo Water from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $20.75.

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.