Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 37.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 238,943 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 141,715 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.14% of Pentair worth $24,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Interval Partners LP grew its stake in Pentair by 289.6% during the 2nd quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 956,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,305,000 after buying an additional 710,703 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Pentair by 862.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 441,887 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,212,000 after acquiring an additional 395,962 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,748,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Pentair by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $856,257,000 after purchasing an additional 259,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Pentair by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,704,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $557,860,000 after purchasing an additional 258,134 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PNR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a report on Thursday, November 21st. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research note on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.13.

Pentair Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:PNR opened at $102.64 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.21. Pentair plc has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $110.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $104.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 16.29%. The business had revenue of $993.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total value of $357,615.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. This trade represents a 15.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Pentair 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.