Vontobel Holding Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 209,383 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,842 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.13% of Pentair worth $21,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Pentair by 105.5% during 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 last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in Pentair by 144.9% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Pentair by 165.2% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Pentair during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pentair Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of PNR stock opened at $96.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.60. Pentair plc has a 1 year low of $72.63 and a 1 year high of $110.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $101.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.98 billion, a PE ratio of 25.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Pentair Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Pentair’s payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PNR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Northcoast Research upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Pentair from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Pentair in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.