Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $109.38.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Pentair from $115.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Pentair from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Insider Activity at Pentair

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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. This represents a 15.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Pentair by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $856,257,000 after purchasing an additional 259,922 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Pentair by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,704,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $557,860,000 after buying an additional 258,134 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,999,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $389,800,000 after buying an additional 19,853 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 0.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,944,812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $225,779,000 after buying an additional 20,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 2.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,727,718 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $209,132,000 after acquiring an additional 53,787 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pentair Stock Performance

PNR stock opened at $101.06 on Friday. Pentair has a twelve month low of $68.08 and a twelve month high of $110.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $16.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s fifty day moving average is $104.41 and its 200-day moving average is $93.25.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $993.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.53 million. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 16.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Pentair will post 4.28 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Pentair’s payout ratio is currently 25.00%.

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.