Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 11,249 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 45.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 36,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,249 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $3,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP lifted its position in Pentair by 105.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 753.8% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 144.9% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE PNR opened at $88.34 on Friday. Pentair plc has a 12 month low of $72.63 and a 12 month high of $110.71. The stock has a market cap of $14.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $95.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.57. 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 (NYSE:PNR) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $970.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PNR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Pentair from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.93.

About Pentair

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.