Avanza Fonder AB Takes $1.49 Million Position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 16,766 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,216,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,034,575,000 after buying an additional 148,031 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,101,253 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $614,030,000 after buying an additional 396,581 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,086,763 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $410,240,000 after buying an additional 87,244 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Pentair by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,468,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $349,085,000 after buying an additional 217,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,962,263 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $197,482,000 after acquiring an additional 428,184 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 target price on Pentair and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on Pentair from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Pentair from $118.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.14.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of PNR stock opened at $99.30 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The business has a 50 day moving average of $91.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.88. Pentair plc has a 52 week low of $72.63 and a 52 week high of $110.71. The company has a market cap of $16.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Pentair’s payout ratio is currently 25.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pentair

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

Pentair Profile

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.