Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 167 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Pentair were worth $2,807,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PNR. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Pentair by 862.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 441,887 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,212,000 after purchasing an additional 395,962 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pentair during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,748,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Pentair by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $856,257,000 after buying an additional 259,922 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Pentair by 4.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,704,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $557,860,000 after buying an additional 258,134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Pentair by 17.9% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,351,271 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $132,141,000 after buying an additional 205,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PNR opened at $95.17 on Friday. Pentair plc has a twelve month low of $72.63 and a twelve month high of $110.71. The company’s 50 day moving average is $100.83 and its 200 day moving average is $97.91. 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 has a market cap of $15.73 billion, a PE ratio of 25.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.20.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $970.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. Pentair’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is 26.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PNR has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.