Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) Shares Sold by Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 13.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,476 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pentair by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 809 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Pentair by 542.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,085 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 916 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Pentair by 69.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Pentair by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 48,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,838,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.94, for a total value of $589,826.52. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 26,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,366,591.22. This represents a 19.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Pentair Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Pentair stock opened at $106.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.94. The stock has a market cap of $17.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.09. Pentair plc has a 1-year low of $74.25 and a 1-year high of $110.71.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. Pentair had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 15.87%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid 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 0.94%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PNR shares. Baird R W upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 target price on Pentair and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Pentair from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.14.

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.