KBC Group NV Sells 597,041 Shares of Pentair plc $PNR

KBC Group NV reduced its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 60.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 385,640 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 597,041 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Pentair were worth $33,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PNR. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Pentair by 1,459.8% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,270,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $110,617,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189,122 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 1,690.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 729,663 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $75,987,000 after purchasing an additional 688,921 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 43.0% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,472,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $161,754,000 after purchasing an additional 442,534 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,474,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $257,700,000 after purchasing an additional 441,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in Pentair by 210.8% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 640,803 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,733,000 after purchasing an additional 434,657 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PNR shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $65.00 target price (down from $103.00) on shares of Pentair in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Pentair from $91.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings cut Pentair from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Pentair from $110.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Pentair from $95.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.87.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of Pentair stock opened at $62.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a PE ratio of 15.23, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $73.30 and a 200 day moving average of $87.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Pentair plc has a 12 month low of $57.60 and a 12 month high of $113.95.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Pentair had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 15.98%.The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 24th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.47%.

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.