Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. Reduces Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,042 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PNR. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Pentair by 105.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. Eastern Bank raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 144.9% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 165.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Pentair from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pentair presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total transaction of $357,615.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,916,853.44. This trade represents a 15.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE PNR opened at $103.02 on Friday. Pentair plc has a 12 month low of $70.98 and a 12 month high of $110.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $104.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.88. The stock has a market cap of $17.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.21.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.00%.

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.