New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 7,600 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 7,600 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Pentair were worth $11,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Pentair by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 916 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 105.5% during the third 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. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,369 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $540,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 12,094 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Pentair by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 27,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,807,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of PNR stock opened at $92.49 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $100.24 and its 200 day moving average is $98.28. Pentair plc has a 1-year low of $72.63 and a 1-year 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 0.92. The company has a market cap of $15.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.73, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.20.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its quarterly 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. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The business had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $970.95 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on PNR shares. Northcoast Research upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pentair has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.25.

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.