Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pentair (NYSE:PNR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

PNR has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pentair in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pentair currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.25.

Pentair Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE PNR opened at $92.97 on Thursday. Pentair has a 12-month low of $72.63 and a 12-month high of $110.71. The company has a market cap of $15.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.27.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $970.95 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Pentair will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pentair

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Quarry LP lifted its position in Pentair by 105.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 753.8% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its stake in shares of Pentair by 230.8% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pentair by 165.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.