Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 79,844 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Bessemer Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 6.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,203,320 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 79,844 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.73% of Pentair worth $105,267,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pentair during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Pentair during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in shares of Pentair by 230.8% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pentair in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 128.4% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.94, for a total transaction of $589,826.52. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,313 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,591.22. The trade was a 19.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Pentair Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of PNR traded up $0.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $103.60. 1,827,105 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,467,411. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Pentair plc has a 52 week low of $73.45 and a 52 week high of $110.71. The company has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a PE ratio of 26.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.10.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.38 million. Pentair had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Pentair's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 price objective on Pentair and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Pentair from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Pentair from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price 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.