Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Decreases Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 272,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 36,965 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned 0.16% of Pentair worth $27,399,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PNR. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 130.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 32,160 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,145,000 after acquiring an additional 18,196 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Pentair in the third quarter valued at about $247,000. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Pentair during the third quarter worth about $479,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 1.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 140,707 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,760,000 after buying an additional 2,072 shares during the period. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 2.3% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 7,525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $736,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Stock Performance

PNR stock opened at $89.19 on Friday. Pentair plc has a 12-month low of $72.63 and a 12-month high of $110.71. The firm has a market cap of $14.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.69.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The firm had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $970.95 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. Pentair’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Pentair’s payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Baird R W upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird raised Pentair from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.27.

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.