Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 14,068 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Pentair plc by 479.8% during the first quarter, now holding 17,000 shares valued at approximately $1.5 million.
• Analysts have offered mixed ratings for Pentair, with TD Cowen lowering its rating from "buy" to "hold" and Citigroup setting a price target of $125.00, indicating a consensus of "Moderate Buy."
• Pentair declared a $0.25 quarterly dividend on August 1st, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.0% and a dividend payout ratio of 27.32%.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 479.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 14,068 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Pentair were worth $1,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,568,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Pentair by 4.8% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 75,337 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,590,000 after acquiring an additional 3,476 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Pentair by 31.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,453 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 6.6% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,075 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 14.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,964 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Pentair Stock Down 0.6%

PNR stock traded down $0.61 on Thursday, reaching $101.94. 633,781 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,570,912. Pentair plc has a one year low of $74.25 and a one year high of $110.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $16.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.60.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. Pentair had a return on equity of 21.62% and a net margin of 14.86%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PNR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Pentair from $107.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Pentair from $113.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Pentair from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $125.00 price objective (up from $99.00) on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $114.36.

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.