Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Pentair (NYSE:PNR) to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Pentair from $115.00 to $94.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Pentair from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, July 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target (down from $103.00) on shares of Pentair in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Pentair from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.44.

Pentair Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of PNR opened at $52.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.18, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Pentair has a 1-year low of $51.13 and a 1-year high of $112.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.67 and a 200 day moving average of $71.08.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $932.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $943.24 million. Pentair had a net margin of 16.24% and a return on equity of 20.62%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Pentair will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 6th. Investors of record on Friday, October 23rd will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 23rd. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Pentair’s payout ratio is 27.14%.

Institutional Trading of Pentair

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 1,459.8% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,270,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $110,617,000 after acquiring an additional 1,189,122 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 4,237,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,208,000 after purchasing an additional 491,758 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 52.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,215,064 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $105,844,000 after purchasing an additional 420,140 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Pentair during the first quarter valued at about $28,717,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Pentair by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,550,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $161,514,000 after purchasing an additional 321,341 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

About Pentair

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) is a water treatment and fluid management company that develops products and solutions for residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers. Its offerings are designed to help move, treat, filter, control, and conserve water across a range of applications.

The company’s products include pool pumps, filters, heaters, cleaners, lighting, automation systems, and related equipment, as well as water softeners, filtration systems, pumps, valves, controls, and other water-treatment technologies.