Marshall Wace LLP Sells 17,531 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Marshall Wace LLP reduced its stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 76.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 17,531 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP's holdings in Pentair were worth $554,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of Pentair by 219.0% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 604,758 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $60,863,000 after purchasing an additional 415,163 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Pentair by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,101,253 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $614,030,000 after purchasing an additional 396,581 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter worth about $36,568,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Pentair by 67.4% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 888,212 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $89,390,000 after purchasing an additional 357,523 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,283,164 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $129,137,000 after buying an additional 346,843 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Pentair

In other Pentair news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 26,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,366,591.22. The trade was a 19.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PNR opened at $93.31 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $86.48 and its 200 day moving average is $96.68. The stock has a market cap of $15.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13. Pentair plc has a 1-year low of $72.63 and a 1-year high of $110.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.10. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. Pentair's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PNR. Baird R W raised shares of Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Pentair from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Mizuho set a $100.00 price target on Pentair in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $106.93.

Pentair 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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