KBC Group NV Boosts Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,051,340 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,700 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.64% of Pentair worth $91,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Pentair by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,216,366 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,034,575,000 after purchasing an additional 148,031 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Pentair by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,101,253 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $614,030,000 after buying an additional 396,581 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Pentair by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,086,763 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $410,240,000 after acquiring an additional 87,244 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,468,651 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $349,085,000 after buying an additional 217,867 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Pentair by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,962,263 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $197,482,000 after acquiring an additional 428,184 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pentair

In related news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.94, for a total transaction of $589,826.52. Following the sale, the director owned 26,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,366,591.22. This represents a 19.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Pentair from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock 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 for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Pentair from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $107.14.

Pentair Stock Performance

PNR traded up $0.81 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $105.86. The company had a trading volume of 1,473,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,464,969. Pentair plc has a 12-month low of $73.45 and a 12-month high of $110.71. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $97.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.94. The stock has a market cap of $17.42 billion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.10. Pentair had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 15.87%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. Pentair's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.84%.

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.