Baird Financial Group Inc. Purchases 969 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 48,940 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 969 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $4,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in Pentair by 753.8% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in Pentair by 144.9% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Pentair in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.94, for a total value of $589,826.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,366,591.22. This represents a 19.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:PNR opened at $93.52 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $86.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.11.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.38 million. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PNR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays raised their target price on Pentair from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 target price on Pentair and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.93.

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.