Vest Financial LLC Sells 75,571 Shares of Pentair plc $PNR

Vest Financial LLC lessened its holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 12.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 533,127 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 75,571 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC owned 0.33% of Pentair worth $59,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Pentair in the third quarter valued at about $276,000. Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Inscription Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,104,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Pentair during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors bought a new position in Pentair in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $672,000. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PNR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Pentair from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Pentair from $124.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Pentair from $121.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pentair currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.75.

Pentair Stock Performance

Shares of PNR stock opened at $104.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average of $104.63 and a 200 day moving average of $106.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.22. Pentair plc has a 1 year low of $74.25 and a 1 year high of $113.95.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The industrial products company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. Pentair had a return on equity of 21.83% and a net margin of 15.84%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 23rd. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Robert P. Fishman sold 7,786 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.42, for a total transaction of $820,800.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 63,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,658,748.88. This represents a 10.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director T Michael Glenn sold 6,558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.33, for a total value of $684,196.14. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 31,192 shares in the company, valued at $3,254,261.36. This trade represents a 17.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Pentair

Pentair plc (NYSE: PNR) is a global provider of water treatment and fluid management solutions. The company designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of products that move, treat, monitor and control the flow of water and other fluids across residential, commercial, industrial and municipal markets. Pentair’s offerings are focused on improving water quality, conserving resources and enabling efficient fluid handling in applications from household water systems and pools to large-scale industrial and municipal installations.

Product lines include pumps and pumping systems, water filtration and purification equipment, valves and controls, heat exchangers, pool and spa systems, and a range of aftermarket parts and services.