Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 235,670 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,133 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.14% of Pentair worth $20,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Pentair by 229.1% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 786,362 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $68,791,000 after acquiring an additional 547,419 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Pentair by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,962,263 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $197,482,000 after buying an additional 428,184 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Pentair by 219.0% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 604,758 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $60,863,000 after acquiring an additional 415,163 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,101,253 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $614,030,000 after buying an additional 396,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter worth about $36,568,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on PNR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 price target on Pentair and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Pentair from $118.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Pentair from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Baird R W raised Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Two investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Pentair currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $107.50.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PNR traded up $0.81 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $107.71. 1,712,792 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,471,077. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $99.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.09. 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 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. Pentair had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The company had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $988.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. Pentair's payout ratio is 25.84%.

Insider Activity at Pentair

In other Pentair news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the firm'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 sale, the director owned 26,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,366,591.22. This trade represents a 19.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

About Pentair

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.