Korea Investment CORP Raises Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 202,358 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 21,200 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Pentair were worth $20,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PNR. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Pentair by 130.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 32,160 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,145,000 after acquiring an additional 18,196 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the third quarter worth $247,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in Pentair during the third quarter valued at $479,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Pentair by 81.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 305,294 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,855,000 after buying an additional 136,971 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Pentair by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 32,813 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,209,000 after acquiring an additional 2,484 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PNR. Northcoast Research upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Pentair from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Baird R W raised shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pentair presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.27.

Pentair Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:PNR opened at $86.76 on Friday. Pentair plc has a 1 year low of $72.63 and a 1 year high of $110.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $94.54 and its 200 day moving average is $98.77. The company has a market cap of $14.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $972.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $970.95 million. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders 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 1.15%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.