R Squared Ltd Purchases 3,850 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Key Points

• R Squared Ltd significantly increased its stake in Pentair plc by 1,833.3% during the 1st quarter, now holding 4,060 shares valued at $355,000.
• Multiple hedge funds have increased their positions in Pentair, with LPL Financial LLC raising its holdings by 60.7% during the 4th quarter, underscoring growing institutional interest.
• Pentair recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.0%.

R Squared Ltd boosted its position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 1,833.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,060 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,850 shares during the quarter. R Squared Ltd's holdings in Pentair were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 2.3% during the first quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 5,521 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $483,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Pentair by 5.6% in the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,604 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $315,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its position in Pentair by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 29,930 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pentair by 11.4% during the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in Pentair by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,759 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Pentair from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Pentair from $104.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $125.00 price target (up from $99.00) on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 target price on shares of Pentair and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Pentair from $113.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pentair currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $114.36.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of PNR traded up $1.61 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $102.23. The stock had a trading volume of 1,455,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,067,475. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.76 billion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.07. Pentair plc has a 12 month low of $74.25 and a 12 month high of $110.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company's 50-day moving average is $101.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.50.

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

Pentair Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. Pentair's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.32%.

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.