Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Sells 72,300 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 48.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 77,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 72,300 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Pentair were worth $7,761,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Pentair by 105.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 144.9% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Pentair in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of PNR opened at $78.66 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.60. Pentair plc has a 52 week low of $71.89 and a 52 week high of $110.71. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.58.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $972.90 million for 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 quarter last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Pentair’s payout ratio is presently 26.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PNR. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.27.

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.