Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW) Shares Purchased by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW - Free Report) by 59.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 407,900 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 151,577 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.25% of Primo Water worth $6,139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PRMW. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Primo Water during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,135,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Primo Water by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,600,023 shares of the company's stock worth $145,580,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,515 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Primo Water during the 4th quarter worth $22,126,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Primo Water by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,581,085 shares of the company's stock worth $165,030,000 after purchasing an additional 1,031,066 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearline Capital LP grew its position in Primo Water by 55.2% during the 2nd quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 2,419,882 shares of the company's stock worth $30,345,000 after purchasing an additional 860,380 shares during the last quarter. 87.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PRMW has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Primo Water from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, February 18th. Raymond James downgraded 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. 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 shares of Primo Water from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $20.75.

Primo Water Price Performance

Shares of Primo Water stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,357,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,011,079. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. Primo Water Co. has a 12-month low of $12.27 and a 12-month high of $18.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $16.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.28.

Primo Water (NYSE:PRMW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Primo Water had a net margin of 10.82% and a return on equity of 8.55%. The business had revenue of $438.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $582.93 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Primo Water Co. will post 0.82 EPS for the current year.

Primo Water Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued 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 1.99%. This is a boost from Primo Water's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Primo Water's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.