World Equity Group Inc. Acquires 3,476 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

World Equity Group Inc. grew its holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 100.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,476 shares during the quarter. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $699,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 862.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 441,887 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,212,000 after purchasing an additional 395,962 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 888,212 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,390,000 after purchasing an additional 357,523 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pentair in the third quarter valued at $26,748,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $856,257,000 after purchasing an additional 259,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 4.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,704,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $557,860,000 after purchasing an additional 258,134 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PNR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Northcoast Research upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays increased their price objective on Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.25.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PNR opened at $92.89 on Monday. Pentair plc has a twelve month low of $72.63 and a twelve month high of $110.71. The firm has a market cap of $15.35 billion, a PE ratio of 24.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $100.54 and a 200-day moving average of $98.21.

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

Pentair Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This is a boost from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.74%.

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.