Quantbot Technologies LP Cuts Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Quantbot Technologies LP reduced its holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 33.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,611 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 8,703 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Pentair were worth $1,772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PNR. State Street Corp grew its position in Pentair by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $856,257,000 after buying an additional 259,922 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Pentair by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,704,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $557,860,000 after purchasing an additional 258,134 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Pentair by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,999,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $389,800,000 after purchasing an additional 19,853 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Pentair by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,010,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $101,653,000 after purchasing an additional 7,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Pentair by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 888,212 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,390,000 after purchasing an additional 357,523 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of PNR stock opened at $89.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. Pentair plc has a one year low of $72.63 and a one year high of $110.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $95.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.77.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $970.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Pentair’s payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PNR shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Pentair in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.93.

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.