Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $95.93.

A number of research firms have issued reports on PNR. Northcoast Research cut Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Pentair from $97.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Pentair from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Pentair from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Pentair from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Pentair Price Performance

PNR opened at $98.36 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Pentair has a 12 month low of $57.18 and a 12 month high of $99.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.53. The stock has a market cap of $16.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.20.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.39% and a net margin of 16.05%. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Pentair will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.47%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Pentair in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its position in Pentair by 376.1% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Pentair during the second quarter worth approximately $48,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted 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 worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Pentair during the first quarter worth approximately $56,000. 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.