Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $295,000 in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,932 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pentair in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 230.8% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter valued at $55,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Pentair during the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Pentair during the 4th quarter worth about $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Pentair Trading Up 0.3%

PNR traded up $0.27 on Wednesday, reaching $99.91. 1,030,231 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,502,089. Pentair plc has a twelve month low of $72.63 and a twelve month high of $110.71. The company's 50 day moving average is $90.41 and its 200-day moving average is $96.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $16.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.71, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.10.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.10. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Pentair's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Pentair news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.94, for a total value of $589,826.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,366,591.22. This represents a 19.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on PNR. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Pentair from $118.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Pentair from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $90.00 to $113.00 in a report on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pentair has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $107.14.

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.