American Century Companies Inc. Sells 9,977 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 55.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,134 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,977 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $819,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PNR. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Pentair by 105.5% in 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 during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its position in Pentair by 144.9% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of PNR stock opened at $82.03 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.77. Pentair plc has a one year low of $72.63 and a one year high of $110.71. The firm has a market cap of $13.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $972.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $970.95 million. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PNR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup decreased 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. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Pentair from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Northcoast Research raised Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Pentair from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.27.

Pentair 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.