Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) was upgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

PNR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Pentair from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Pentair from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Pentair from $91.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective (down from $75.00) on shares of Pentair in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.19.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PNR opened at $52.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.21. Pentair has a 12 month low of $51.13 and a 12 month high of $112.26.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.02. Pentair had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The firm had revenue of $932.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $943.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Pentair will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Pentair by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 491,817 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,218,000 after purchasing an additional 104,674 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Pentair by 13.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 4,237,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,208,000 after buying an additional 491,758 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Pentair by 10.2% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 206,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,794,000 after buying an additional 19,053 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its position in shares of Pentair by 88.7% in the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 75,631 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,588,000 after buying an additional 35,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in shares of Pentair in the second quarter worth about $438,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pentair Company Profile

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) is a water treatment and fluid management company that develops products and solutions for residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers. Its offerings are designed to help move, treat, filter, control, and conserve water across a range of applications.

The company’s products include pool pumps, filters, heaters, cleaners, lighting, automation systems, and related equipment, as well as water softeners, filtration systems, pumps, valves, controls, and other water-treatment technologies.