Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) Shares Sold by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lowered its holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 571,092 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 16,722 shares during the period. Pentair comprises 1.0% of Vest Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Pentair were worth $57,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Pentair by 105.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 753.8% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pentair by 165.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Pentair Stock Down 0.8 %

PNR opened at $97.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.17 billion, a PE ratio of 26.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $102.88 and a 200-day moving average of $97.25. Pentair plc has a fifty-two week low of $72.44 and a fifty-two week high of $110.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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

Pentair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PNR. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.25.

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.