Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on PNR. Citigroup cut their price target on Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Pentair from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.27.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PNR opened at $78.66 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $92.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.51. Pentair has a 52 week low of $72.63 and a 52 week high of $110.71. The stock has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.03, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The business had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $970.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pentair will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Quarry LP grew its stake in Pentair by 105.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in Pentair by 753.8% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its position in shares of Pentair by 230.8% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 128.4% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Pentair

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.