Blue Trust Inc. Raises Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 59.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 838 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $82,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 753.8% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank raised its position in shares of Pentair by 144.9% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Pentair during the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in Pentair by 4,450.0% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pentair Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Pentair stock opened at $97.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.20. Pentair plc has a 52-week low of $72.44 and a 52-week high of $110.71. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $970.95 million. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 16.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PNR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Pentair from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Pentair from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Pentair presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.25.

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.