Gabelli Funds LLC Lowers Stock Position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Gabelli Funds LLC cut its holdings in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Pentair were worth $9,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in shares of Pentair by 1.8% during the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 113,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,685,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Pentair in the 1st quarter valued at $489,000. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Pentair in the 1st quarter valued at $232,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Pentair by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 42,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,637,000 after buying an additional 2,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC purchased a new position in Pentair in the 1st quarter valued at $354,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pentair Price Performance

PNR stock traded up $2.39 during trading on Friday, hitting $88.50. The stock had a trading volume of 1,736,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,106,077. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $79.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.76. Pentair plc has a 1-year low of $57.18 and a 1-year high of $88.96. The stock has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.65.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.08. Pentair had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 19th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PNR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Pentair from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Pentair from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Pentair from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Pentair from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pentair

In other Pentair news, CEO Jerome O. Pedretti sold 24,747 shares of Pentair stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.45, for a total value of $2,089,884.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 38,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,254,534.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Pentair 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.