Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Sees Large Volume Increase – Should You Buy?

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 602,065 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 36% from the previous session’s volume of 947,506 shares.The stock last traded at $102.28 and had previously closed at $100.28.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PNR. StockNews.com lowered shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Pentair from $115.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.13.

Pentair Stock Up 1.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.52. The firm has a market cap of $16.96 billion, a PE ratio of 25.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.21.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $993.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.53 million. Pentair had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Pentair’s payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Pentair news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total value of $357,615.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. The trade was a 15.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Interval Partners LP increased its position in shares of Pentair by 289.6% in the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 956,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,305,000 after acquiring an additional 710,703 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Pentair by 862.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 441,887 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,212,000 after buying an additional 395,962 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Pentair during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,748,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Pentair by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $856,257,000 after buying an additional 259,922 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 4.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,704,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $557,860,000 after acquiring an additional 258,134 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.