Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pentair (NYSE:PNR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on PNR. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Pentair in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Northcoast Research raised Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.25.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of PNR stock opened at $94.29 on Thursday. Pentair has a 52 week low of $72.63 and a 52 week high of $110.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.54 billion, a PE ratio of 25.21, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $99.52 and its 200-day moving average is $98.44.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.06. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The firm had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $970.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Pentair will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Pentair’s payout ratio is presently 26.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PNR. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 7,628 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Pentair by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,194 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Pentair by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 916 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Pentair by 105.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Pentair by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,369 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.