Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Makes New Investment in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 27,911 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,809,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Pentair by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,648,000 after purchasing an additional 11,249 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its position in shares of Pentair by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 26,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after acquiring an additional 3,537 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Pentair by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 5,746 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $578,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the period. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Pentair by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Gitterman Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,724 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $475,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Pentair by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 7,007 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $705,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Pentair in a report on Monday, January 6th. Northcoast Research upgraded Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com raised Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.93.

Pentair Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Pentair stock opened at $89.19 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.65. Pentair plc has a 12-month low of $72.63 and a 12-month high of $110.71. The company has a market capitalization of $14.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. The business had revenue of $972.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $970.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. Pentair’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.74%.

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.