Putnam Investments LLC Sells 1,741 Shares of Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW)

Putnam Investments LLC reduced its position in Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW – Get Rating) by 1.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 95,693 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,741 shares during the quarter. Putnam Investments LLC’s holdings in Primo Water were worth $1,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PRMW. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Primo Water by 24.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Primo Water by 9.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Primo Water by 85.3% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,678,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,913,000 after purchasing an additional 772,300 shares in the last quarter. EVR Research LP lifted its stake in Primo Water by 267.5% during the 1st quarter. EVR Research LP now owns 735,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,474,000 after acquiring an additional 535,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Primo Water during the 3rd quarter valued at $6,521,000. 88.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jeremy S. G. Fowden sold 90,463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.12, for a total transaction of $1,458,263.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,268,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,452,572.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Jeremy S. G. Fowden sold 90,463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.12, for a total transaction of $1,458,263.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,268,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,452,572.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jeremy S. G. Fowden sold 47,630 shares of Primo Water stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.01, for a total value of $762,556.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,268,770 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,313,007.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 141,853 shares of company stock valued at $2,280,980 in the last ninety days. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PRMW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded Primo Water from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. CIBC cut Primo Water from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Primo Water has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.33.

Primo Water Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Primo Water stock opened at $14.48 on Tuesday. Primo Water Co. has a 1 year low of $12.15 and a 1 year high of $16.47. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 76.21 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $15.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $14.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Primo Water Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 9th. This is a positive change from Primo Water’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Primo Water’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 168.42%.

Primo Water Profile

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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 water, filtration equipment, and coffee. The company offers its products under the Primo, Alhambra, Crystal Rock, Mountain Valley, Deep Rock, Hinckley Springs, Crystal Springs, Kentwood Springs, Mount Olympus, Pureflo, Nursery, Sierra Springs, Sparkletts, Clear Mountain Natural Spring Water, Earth2O, Renü, and Water Event Pure Water Solutions brands in the United States; Canadian Springs and Labrador Source brands in Canada; and Decantae, Eden, Eden Springs, Chateaud'eau, and Mey Eden brands in Europe and Israel.