Xponance Inc. Grows Position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,873 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,420 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $2,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 105.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in Pentair by 753.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Eastern Bank raised its position in shares of Pentair by 144.9% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter worth $60,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of PNR stock opened at $87.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.56. Pentair plc has a one year low of $72.63 and a one 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.

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

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PNR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Northcoast Research upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Pentair from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Pentair in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Pentair presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.93.

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.