Norges Bank Makes New Investment in Pentair plc $PNR

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 353,355 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,798,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PNR. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Wexford Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 502.8% during the 4th quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 434 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 86.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 440 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PNR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on Pentair from $112.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Pentair from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Pentair from $100.00 to $88.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (down from $135.00) on shares of Pentair in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pentair currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.86.

Pentair Price Performance

NYSE:PNR opened at $72.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $80.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.89. Pentair plc has a 12-month low of $69.93 and a 12-month high of $113.95.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Pentair had a net margin of 15.98% and a return on equity of 21.92%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. Research analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 24th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.47%.

Pentair Profile

Pentair plc (NYSE: PNR) is a global provider of water treatment and fluid management solutions. The company designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of products that move, treat, monitor and control the flow of water and other fluids across residential, commercial, industrial and municipal markets. Pentair’s offerings are focused on improving water quality, conserving resources and enabling efficient fluid handling in applications from household water systems and pools to large-scale industrial and municipal installations.

Product lines include pumps and pumping systems, water filtration and purification equipment, valves and controls, heat exchangers, pool and spa systems, and a range of aftermarket parts and services.