Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $24.05 Million Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 37.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 238,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 141,715 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $24,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 105.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 144.9% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Pentair by 165.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 525 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Pentair in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in Pentair by 4,450.0% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 637 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total value of $357,615.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. This represents a 15.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Pentair Price Performance

NYSE:PNR opened at $102.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $16.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $104.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.52. Pentair plc has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $110.71.

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

Pentair Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. This is a positive change from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PNR has been the subject of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Pentair from $115.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Pentair from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.13.

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.