Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 11,392 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 5.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 219,061 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 11,392 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $21,422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its stake in Pentair by 376.1% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Pentair during the second quarter valued at $48,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 165.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pentair in the 1st quarter worth $56,000. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pentair Trading Up 2.2 %

PNR stock opened at $106.32 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.57 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Pentair plc has a 12 month low of $62.04 and a 12 month high of $107.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $96.87 and its 200 day moving average is $86.94.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. Pentair had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The business had revenue of $993.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.53 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.28 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Pentair’s payout ratio is 23.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on PNR shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Pentair from $101.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Pentair from $101.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total value of $357,615.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,916,853.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Company Profile

Pentair plc provides various water solutions in the United States, Western Europe, China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, Canada, and Japan. The company operates through three segments: Flow, Water Solutions, and Pool. The Flow segment designs, manufactures, and sells fluid treatment and pump products and systems, including pressure vessels, gas recovery solutions, membrane bioreactors, wastewater reuse systems and advanced membrane filtration, separation systems, water disposal pumps, water supply pumps, fluid transfer pumps, turbine pumps, solid handling pumps, and agricultural spray nozzles for fluid delivery, ion exchange, desalination, food and beverage, separation technologies in the oil and gas industry, residential and municipal wells, water treatment, wastewater solids handling, pressure boosting, circulation and transfer, fire suppression, flood control, agricultural irrigation, and crop spray in residential, commercial, and industrial markets.