Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pentair (NYSE:PNR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Pentair in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Pentair has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.25.

Pentair Trading Up 1.1 %

Pentair stock opened at $86.09 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. 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 has a 1 year low of $72.63 and a 1 year high of $110.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $97.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.74.

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

Pentair Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.74%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pentair

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Pentair by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,216,366 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,034,575,000 after purchasing an additional 148,031 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 259,922 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,101,253 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $614,030,000 after acquiring an additional 396,581 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,086,763 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $410,240,000 after acquiring an additional 87,244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,468,651 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $349,085,000 after acquiring an additional 217,867 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.