Pentair Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:PNR)

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors acquired 3,133 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 578% compared to the typical daily volume of 462 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pentair

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PNR. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in Pentair by 0.9% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 11,006 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in Pentair by 1.2% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,888 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $984,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Pentair by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 252 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Pentair by 0.3% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 38,135 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,915,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plan A Wealth LLC grew its stake in Pentair by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Plan A Wealth LLC now owns 2,009 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price target (down from $135.00) on shares of Pentair in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Pentair from $112.00 to $106.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America cut their target price on Pentair from $100.00 to $88.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.86.

Pentair Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of PNR stock traded up $0.12 on Tuesday, reaching $76.42. 189,731 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,949,891. The company has a market capitalization of $12.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $76.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.70. Pentair has a twelve month low of $69.93 and a twelve month high of $113.95.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Pentair had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 15.98%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pentair will post 5.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Friday, July 24th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 24th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.47%.

About Pentair

Pentair plc (NYSE: PNR) is a global provider of water treatment and fluid management solutions. The company designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of products that move, treat, monitor and control the flow of water and other fluids across residential, commercial, industrial and municipal markets. Pentair’s offerings are focused on improving water quality, conserving resources and enabling efficient fluid handling in applications from household water systems and pools to large-scale industrial and municipal installations.

Product lines include pumps and pumping systems, water filtration and purification equipment, valves and controls, heat exchangers, pool and spa systems, and a range of aftermarket parts and services.