Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $108.67 and last traded at $108.54, with a volume of 36851 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $106.93.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Pentair in a report on Tuesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Pentair from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Pentair presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.38.

Pentair Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $18.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $99.68 and its 200 day moving average is $88.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $993.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.53 million. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 16.29%. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Pentair’s payout ratio is 23.00%.

Insider Activity at Pentair

In other news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total transaction of $357,615.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. The trade was a 15.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 10.7% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 6,585 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Pentair by 222.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 50,653 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,328,000 after buying an additional 34,959 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Pentair by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,146,271 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $87,885,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair in the second quarter valued at about $631,000. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA bought a new position in shares of Pentair during the second quarter worth about $572,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Pentair

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.