Quadrature Capital Ltd Increases Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 9.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,584 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,120 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in Pentair were worth $1,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 113,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,685,000 after buying an additional 2,029 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Pentair in the 1st quarter worth approximately $489,000. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Pentair in the 1st quarter worth approximately $232,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Pentair by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 42,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,637,000 after purchasing an additional 2,568 shares during the period. Finally, Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC purchased a new position in Pentair in the 1st quarter worth approximately $354,000. 92.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on PNR shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Pentair from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com raised Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Northcoast Research cut Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Pentair from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Pentair from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.87.

Pentair Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE PNR traded up $2.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $88.50. 1,736,555 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,106,077. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.65. Pentair plc has a 52 week low of $57.18 and a 52 week high of $88.96. The company has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $79.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.76.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.08. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 16.05%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pentair news, CEO Jerome O. Pedretti sold 24,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.45, for a total value of $2,089,884.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,254,534.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Pentair 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.