Vontobel Holding Ltd. Buys 7,413 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 216,796 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 7,413 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.13% of Pentair worth $18,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Pentair by 12.6% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,546 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Pentair in the 1st quarter worth about $1,429,000. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in Pentair by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 33,274 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,911,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Pentair by 1.3% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,051,340 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $91,971,000 after buying an additional 13,700 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Pentair by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 29,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,562,000 after acquiring an additional 2,410 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Pentair news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.94, for a total transaction of $589,826.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,313 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,591.22. This represents a 19.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.45% of the company's stock.

Pentair Stock Performance

PNR traded up $0.81 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $105.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,473,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,464,969. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company's 50-day moving average is $97.17 and its 200-day moving average is $94.94. Pentair plc has a 52 week low of $73.45 and a 52 week high of $110.71. The firm has a market cap of $17.42 billion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.09.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. Pentair had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $988.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Pentair's payout ratio is presently 25.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on PNR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Pentair from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $90.00 to $113.00 in a report on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Pentair from $118.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $107.14.

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.