Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 16,656 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Pentair plc by 5.2% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 16,656 shares and now holding a total of 339,478 shares valued at approximately $29.7 million.
• Institutional investors collectively own 92.37% of Pentair's stock, indicating significant institutional interest in the company.
• Pentair recently reported earnings of $1.39 per share for the quarter, exceeding expectations, while revenue remained steady at $1.12 billion compared to analyst forecasts.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 339,478 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 16,656 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.21% of Pentair worth $29,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 4,231.6% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 622,185 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $54,429,000 after acquiring an additional 607,821 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Pentair by 229.1% during 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. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Pentair by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,829,985 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $335,047,000 after acquiring an additional 541,461 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 1st quarter valued at $38,663,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Pentair by 27.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PNR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on Pentair from $118.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen cut Pentair from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $110.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $125.00 price target (up previously from $99.00) on shares of Pentair in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Bank of America cut Pentair from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $106.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Pentair from $118.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $114.36.

Pentair Stock Down 1.5%

PNR stock opened at $105.04 on Friday. Pentair plc has a twelve month low of $74.25 and a twelve month high of $110.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock's 50 day moving average is $103.00 and its 200-day moving average is $95.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.22 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.07.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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