Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 290 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PNR. Allstate Corp bought a new position in Pentair in the 4th quarter worth approximately $491,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Pentair by 44.2% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Pentair during the 4th quarter worth about $36,568,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL bought a new position in Pentair in the 4th quarter worth about $285,000. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pentair Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE PNR opened at $86.76 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $94.54 and its 200 day moving average is $98.69. Pentair plc has a 52 week low of $72.63 and a 52 week high of $110.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $14.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PNR. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays lowered their price target on Pentair from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Pentair from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $114.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.27.

Pentair Company 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.