Prospector Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Prospector Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 146,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the quarter. Pentair makes up approximately 1.6% of Prospector Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Prospector Partners LLC owned about 0.09% of Pentair worth $14,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Pentair by 105.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in Pentair by 753.8% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its stake in Pentair by 144.9% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in Pentair in the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair in the 4th quarter worth $60,000. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on PNR. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com cut Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird raised Pentair from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.27.

Pentair Trading Down 3.5 %

NYSE:PNR opened at $78.66 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.54. Pentair plc has a 52-week low of $72.63 and a 52-week high of $110.71. The company has a market capitalization of $12.96 billion, a PE ratio of 21.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $970.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Pentair’s payout ratio is 26.74%.

Pentair Company 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.