Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Hits New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $98.00 to $110.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Pentair traded as high as $99.96 and last traded at $98.93, with a volume of 1047039 shares. The stock had previously closed at $98.36.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on PNR. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Pentair from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Pentair from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Pentair from $101.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.73.

Institutional Trading of Pentair

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in Pentair by 352.5% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,577,208 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,695,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,635 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Pentair during the 1st quarter worth approximately $97,083,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Pentair by 91.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,082,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $159,655,000 after buying an additional 996,325 shares during the period. Interval Partners LP lifted its stake in Pentair by 289.6% in the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 956,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,305,000 after buying an additional 710,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in shares of Pentair in the first quarter valued at approximately $45,096,000. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pentair Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $16.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $91.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.08. Pentair had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is 23.29%.

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.