Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 148,932 Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 148,932 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,989,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PNR. Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 3rd quarter valued at $256,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,329 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,890,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 103,110 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,083,000 after buying an additional 4,074 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 3rd quarter valued at $249,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 492,787 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $48,190,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Pentair in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded shares of 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 assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.93.

Pentair Stock Performance

NYSE:PNR opened at $87.35 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $96.34 and its 200-day moving average is $98.71. Pentair plc has a 52-week low of $72.63 and a 52-week high of $110.71. 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 company has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.36, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $970.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. Pentair’s payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

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.