VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases New Stake in Pentair plc $PNR

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $593,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CI Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 8.5% in the first quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 2,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Pentair by 8.4% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,502 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp raised its position in Pentair by 30.1% during the first quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 1,524 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its position in Pentair by 7.1% during the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 5,460 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $476,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC raised its position in Pentair by 16.8% during the first quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 2,901 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Stock Performance

Pentair stock traded down $1.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $68.11. 1,961,987 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,647,852. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.57. Pentair plc has a fifty-two week low of $51.13 and a fifty-two week high of $109.89. The stock has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.01.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The industrial products company reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $976.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $963.71 million. Pentair had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.70 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 6th. Investors of record on Friday, October 23rd were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 23rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is 28.65%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on PNR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Seaport Research Partners cut shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. UBS Group set a $65.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $66.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Pentair to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.59.

Pentair Profile

Pentair plc (NYSE: PNR) is a water treatment and management company that designs and manufactures products and systems for residential, commercial, industrial, and recreational applications. Its offerings include water filtration, softening, and purification systems; pumps, valves, controls, and related equipment; and solutions that help customers manage water quality, flow, and conservation.

The company also serves the swimming pool and spa market through equipment such as pumps, filters, heaters, lighting, automation systems, and water-treatment products.