Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on Pentair from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.27.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of PNR traded down $7.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $81.47. 2,114,248 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,466,592. Pentair has a 52-week low of $72.63 and a 52-week high of $110.71. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.61. The company has a market cap of $13.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.78, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $970.95 million. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Pentair will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moody National Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Pentair in the 4th quarter worth approximately $989,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,999,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $389,800,000 after purchasing an additional 19,853 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Pentair by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 809 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in Pentair during the 4th quarter valued at $289,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in Pentair by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 23,712 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,386,000 after buying an additional 4,308 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% 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.