Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 76,756 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,494,639 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 76,756 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.51% of Pentair worth $251,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moody National Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter valued at $989,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter valued at $289,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter valued at $36,568,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Pentair by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 23,712 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,386,000 after buying an additional 4,308 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PNR traded down $0.17 on Friday, reaching $90.01. 884,476 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,504,985. The company has a fifty day moving average of $86.77 and a 200-day moving average of $96.91. Pentair plc has a twelve month low of $72.63 and a twelve month high of $110.71. The company has a market capitalization of $14.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business posted $0.94 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Pentair's dividend payout ratio is 25.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Baird R W raised shares of Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 price target on shares of Pentair and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $106.93.

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.