Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Cuts Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,494,639 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 76,756 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Pentair were worth $251,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PNR. GeoWealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Pentair by 136.9% in the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Pentair by 34.7% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 22,524 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 5,800 shares in the last quarter. Charter Oak Advisors LP purchased a new position in Pentair in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,320,000. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new stake in Pentair during the fourth quarter worth approximately $239,000. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 2,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on PNR shares. Baird R W raised Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Pentair from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Pentair from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.00.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PNR opened at $78.79 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.12. Pentair plc has a fifty-two week low of $72.63 and a fifty-two week high of $110.71. The company has a market cap of $13.00 billion, a PE ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share 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 business 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 earned $0.87 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Pentair’s payout ratio is 26.74%.

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.