Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Cuts Stake in Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW)

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. reduced its position in Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 196,960 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,140 shares during the quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.’s holdings in Primo Water were worth $2,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PRMW. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Primo Water by 358.1% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 1,848 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Primo Water during the third quarter valued at $102,000. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Primo Water during the third quarter valued at $139,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Primo Water during the third quarter valued at $159,000. Finally, Gitterman Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Primo Water during the third quarter valued at $204,000. 87.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PRMW has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Primo Water from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Primo Water from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of Primo Water from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Primo Water from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $21.25.

Primo Water Price Performance

Shares of Primo Water stock traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $19.59. The stock had a trading volume of 829,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,011,668. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $17.53 and its 200 day moving average is $15.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. Primo Water Co. has a twelve month low of $12.27 and a twelve month high of $19.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Primo Water (NYSE:PRMW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $438.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $582.93 million. Primo Water had a return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 10.82%. Equities 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 8th were given a $0.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. This is an increase from Primo Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Primo Water’s dividend payout ratio is 24.16%.

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.