Ethic Inc. Boosts Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Ethic Inc. increased its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,649 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $2,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PNR. Moody National Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Pentair during the fourth quarter valued at $989,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pentair by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 809 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $289,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Pentair in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,568,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in Pentair by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 23,712 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,386,000 after acquiring an additional 4,308 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pentair news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.94, for a total value of $589,826.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,313 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,591.22. This represents a 19.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of PNR opened at $93.52 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Pentair plc has a 52 week low of $72.63 and a 52 week high of $110.71. The stock has a market cap of $15.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.11.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.38 million. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on PNR. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Pentair from $118.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Baird R W raised shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Mizuho set a $100.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.93.

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.