Baird Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,940 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 969 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $4,925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Pentair by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 494,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,807,000 after acquiring an additional 6,335 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Pentair by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 384,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,711,000 after purchasing an additional 79,357 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Pentair by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $237,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in Pentair by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 22,138 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,228,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 11,352 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,142,000 after buying an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PNR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Pentair from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Baird R W upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.93.

Pentair Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:PNR opened at $93.52 on Friday. 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’s 50 day moving average is $86.52 and its 200 day moving average is $96.46. The stock has a market cap of $15.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.11. Pentair plc has a 52-week low of $72.63 and a 52-week high of $110.71.

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

Pentair Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Pentair news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,313 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,591.22. This represents a 19.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.