Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Stock Rating Raised to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Pentair (NYSE:PNR) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday,Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Pentair from $91.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Pentair from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $101.00 to $74.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wolfe Research raised Pentair from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price (down from $103.00) on shares of Pentair in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Pentair to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.19.

Pentair Trading Up 0.3%

PNR opened at $52.34 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $59.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.21. The firm has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.04. Pentair has a twelve month low of $51.13 and a twelve month high of $112.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 1.45.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $932.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $943.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Pentair will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 6th. Investors of record on Friday, October 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 23rd. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PNR. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Pentair by 1,459.8% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,270,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $110,617,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189,122 shares during the period. Amundi increased 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 purchasing an additional 491,758 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 52.9% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,215,064 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,844,000 after purchasing an additional 420,140 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,717,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,550,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $161,514,000 after buying an additional 321,341 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is 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.