Bill Few Associates Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Bill Few Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,032 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Pentair by 3.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $856,257,000 after purchasing an additional 259,922 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Pentair by 4.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,704,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $557,860,000 after purchasing an additional 258,134 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Pentair by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,999,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $389,800,000 after acquiring an additional 19,853 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted 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 worth $225,779,000 after buying an additional 20,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,489,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,823,000 after purchasing an additional 158,433 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pentair Price Performance

Pentair stock opened at $104.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $104.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.48. Pentair plc has a 12-month low of $70.59 and a 12-month high of $110.71.

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

Pentair Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Pentair from $115.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com lowered Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total transaction of $357,615.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,232 shares in the company, valued at $1,916,853.44. This trade represents a 15.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.