Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $102.63, but opened at $99.55. Pentair shares last traded at $100.38, with a volume of 523,812 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Pentair from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.25.

Pentair Stock Up 1.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.11.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $972.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $970.95 million. Pentair had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is 25.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 916 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its position in Pentair by 1.6% during the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 8,121 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Pentair by 105.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Pentair by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,369 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Pentair by 5.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.