Short Interest in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) Declines By 23.2%

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) saw a significant drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,420,000 shares, a drop of 23.2% from the October 31st total of 3,150,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,430,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of Pentair stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total value of $357,615.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. This trade represents a 15.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $610,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in Pentair by 3.9% during the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,403 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $270,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Pentair by 3.8% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Pentair by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 8,121 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $794,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 105.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Stock Up 0.0 %

PNR stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $108.99. 636,089 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,538,775. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.60. Pentair has a 1-year low of $63.38 and a 1-year high of $110.71. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.03. The firm has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.19.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $993.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.53 million. Pentair had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Pentair will post 4.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PNR shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Pentair from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Pentair in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Pentair from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.38.

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.