Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $101.18 and last traded at $101.18, with a volume of 137931 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $98.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PNR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Pentair from $98.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Northcoast Research lowered Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Pentair from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.80.

Pentair Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $94.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.19.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $993.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.53 million. Pentair had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 20.48%. Pentair’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Pentair’s payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

Insider Activity at Pentair

In related news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total transaction of $357,615.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pentair

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PNR. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Pentair by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,944,812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $225,779,000 after purchasing an additional 20,946 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Pentair by 2.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,727,718 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $209,132,000 after acquiring an additional 53,787 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Pentair by 91.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,082,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $159,655,000 after purchasing an additional 996,325 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Pentair by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 1,639,547 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $125,704,000 after buying an additional 105,724 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Pentair by 352.5% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,577,208 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,695,000 after buying an additional 1,228,635 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Pentair

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.