Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 440 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Pentair by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $856,257,000 after acquiring an additional 259,922 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Pentair by 4.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 0.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 19,853 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Pentair by 17.9% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,351,271 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,141,000 after buying an additional 205,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Pentair by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,010,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $101,653,000 after buying an additional 7,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Stock Down 1.0 %

Pentair stock opened at $87.44 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.65. Pentair plc has a 12 month low of $72.63 and a 12 month high of $110.71. The firm has a market cap of $14.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $972.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $970.95 million. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Pentair’s payout ratio is 26.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PNR. Citigroup lowered their price target on Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Pentair in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Four equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.93.

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.