Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Raises Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 96,087 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,761 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.06% of Pentair worth $9,670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 753.8% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 144.9% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Pentair in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Pentair during the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of Pentair stock opened at $86.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.77. 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 plc has a 12 month low of $72.63 and a 12 month high of $110.71.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $972.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $970.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PNR shares. Robert W. Baird raised Pentair from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut 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. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Pentair from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.27.

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.