Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $21.42 Million Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 219,061 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 11,392 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Pentair worth $21,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PNR. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $856,257,000 after purchasing an additional 259,922 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Pentair by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,704,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $557,860,000 after buying an additional 258,134 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Pentair by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,999,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $389,800,000 after acquiring an additional 19,853 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Pentair by 0.7% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,944,812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $225,779,000 after acquiring an additional 20,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 2.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,727,718 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $209,132,000 after acquiring an additional 53,787 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Pentair news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. This trade represents a 15.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of PNR opened at $102.35 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.15. Pentair plc has a 12 month low of $68.08 and a 12 month high of $110.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Pentair Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Pentair’s payout ratio is presently 25.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PNR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Pentair from $115.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pentair has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.38.

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.