Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Buys New Position in Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 65,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $984,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in Primo Water by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 263,020 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,958,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Primo Water by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 951,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,327,000 after purchasing an additional 145,966 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Primo Water by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 72,625 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 11,689 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in shares of Primo Water by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 15,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 3,759 shares during the period. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in shares of Primo Water in the fourth quarter worth approximately $233,000. 87.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PRMW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Primo Water from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James lowered shares of Primo Water from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Primo Water from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 18th. Finally, TD Securities dropped their price target 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $20.75.

Primo Water Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PRMW opened at $17.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $16.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.23. Primo Water Co. has a fifty-two week low of $12.27 and a fifty-two week high of $18.49. The firm has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.12.

Primo Water (NYSE:PRMW) last issued its 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 return on equity of 8.55% and a net margin of 10.82%. The company had revenue of $438.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $582.93 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Primo Water Co. will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Primo Water Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This is an increase from Primo Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Primo Water’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.