World Equity Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

World Equity Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 50.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,474 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 3,476 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc.'s holdings in Pentair were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Abundance Wealth Counselors purchased a new position in shares of Pentair in the 1st quarter worth approximately $625,000. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Pentair by 12.3% during the first quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 5,878 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 644 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Pentair by 2.7% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 19,345 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,692,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Pentair by 9.0% during the first quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 35.0% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 30,770 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,692,000 after acquiring an additional 7,977 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PNR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Pentair from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on Pentair from $118.00 to $98.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 price objective on Pentair and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $107.14.

Insider Activity at Pentair

In other news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the company'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 owns 26,313 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,591.22. This represents a 19.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Pentair Trading Up 0.3%

PNR opened at $97.19 on Friday. Pentair plc has a 12 month low of $72.63 and a 12 month high of $110.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $94.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.23. The firm has a market cap of $15.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.10. Pentair had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Pentair's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.84%.

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.

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