Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Upgraded at Baird R W

Baird R W upgraded shares of Pentair (NYSE:PNR) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Pentair in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Pentair from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pentair has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.27.

Pentair Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE PNR opened at $89.19 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $14.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a PEG 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. Pentair has a 12 month low of $72.63 and a 12 month high of $110.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $94.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.69.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The company had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $970.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Pentair will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moody National Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Pentair in the 4th quarter worth about $989,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Pentair in the third quarter worth about $479,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Pentair by 4.7% in the third 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 period. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its position in Pentair by 47.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 19,881 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,944,000 after acquiring an additional 6,391 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Pentair by 30.7% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 59,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,856,000 after acquiring an additional 14,057 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

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.