Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,920,000 shares, a decline of 18.9% from the April 30th total of 3,600,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,680,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PNR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Pentair and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Pentair from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pentair currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $107.14.

Pentair Stock Performance

NYSE:PNR traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $99.59. 1,252,397 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,499,795. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $90.89 and a 200 day moving average of $96.01. 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 has a 1-year low of $72.63 and a 1-year high of $110.71.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $988.38 million. Pentair had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 20.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Pentair will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Pentair's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.84%.

Insider Activity at Pentair

In other Pentair news, Director David A. /Wi Jones sold 6,558 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were 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 directly owns 26,313 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,366,591.22. This trade represents a 19.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pentair

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PNR. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 809 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter worth approximately $289,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,568,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 91.8% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 4,150 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 1,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 32,225 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,243,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.