Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s What Happened

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 602,065 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the previous session’s volume of 947,506 shares.The stock last traded at $102.28 and had previously closed at $100.28.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on Pentair from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.13.

Pentair Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $104.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 16.29%. The company had revenue of $993.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.53 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pentair’s payout ratio is presently 25.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total transaction of $357,615.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. This trade represents a 15.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Pentair by 91.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,082,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $159,655,000 after acquiring an additional 996,325 shares during the last quarter. Interval Partners LP boosted its holdings in Pentair by 289.6% during the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 956,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,305,000 after purchasing an additional 710,703 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Pentair by 862.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 441,887 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,212,000 after purchasing an additional 395,962 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Pentair in the third quarter valued at $26,748,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 3.1% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. 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.