Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR – Get Rating) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 10,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PNR. LS Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Pentair during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Ancora Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pentair in the 1st quarter worth about $56,000. Dupont Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Pentair by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 999 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC purchased a new position in Pentair in the second quarter worth about $64,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 127.7% in the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. 90.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pentair Price Performance

NYSE PNR opened at $47.98 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $44.85 and its 200 day moving average is $45.05. Pentair plc has a fifty-two week low of $38.55 and a fifty-two week high of $71.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 1.42. The company has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.07.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 25th. The industrial products company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.06. Pentair had a return on equity of 24.47% and a net margin of 13.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 19th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Glynis Bryan sold 3,947 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.14, for a total value of $178,167.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,246,270.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Pentair from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 18th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Pentair from $56.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Pentair from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pentair from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 6th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Pentair from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.60.

Pentair Company Profile

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Pentair plc provides various water solutions worldwide. It operates through Consumer Solutions; and Industrial & Flow Technologies segments. The Consumer Solutions segment designs, manufactures, and sells residential and commercial pool equipment and accessories, including pumps, filters, heaters, lights, automatic controls, automatic cleaners, maintenance equipment, and pool accessories for residential and commercial pool maintenance, repair, renovation, service, and construction applications; and water treatment products and systems comprising pressure tanks, control valves, activated carbon products, conventional filtration products, and point-of-entry and point-of-use systems for the use in residential whole home water filtration, drinking water filtration, and water softening solutions, as well as in commercial total water management and filtration in foodservice operations.