Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pentair (NYSE:PNR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on PNR. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Pentair from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho set a $100.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pentair presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.14.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of Pentair stock opened at $101.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.11. Pentair has a twelve month low of $72.63 and a twelve month high of $110.71. The company’s fifty day moving average is $87.57 and its 200 day moving average is $96.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.38 million. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pentair will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Pentair’s payout ratio is currently 25.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.94, for a total value of $589,826.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,366,591.22. This represents a 19.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pentair

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PNR. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Pentair during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in Pentair by 753.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its position in Pentair by 230.8% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Pentair in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.