Royal Bank of Canada Grows Stock Position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 29.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 545,750 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 124,810 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.33% of Pentair worth $54,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Pentair during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in Pentair by 753.8% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in Pentair by 230.8% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Pentair during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Pentair during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PNR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Baird R W upgraded Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Northcoast Research raised Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Pentair from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $90.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Two research 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, Pentair currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $107.14.

Pentair Trading Up 2.4%

NYSE:PNR traded up $2.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $99.14. The stock had a trading volume of 209,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,510,283. Pentair plc has a one year low of $72.63 and a one year high of $110.71. The company has a market capitalization of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.51, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $88.96 and a 200 day moving average of $96.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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 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 analyst estimates of $988.38 million. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Pentair's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.84%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.94, for a total value of $589,826.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,313 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,591.22. This trade represents a 19.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.