Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 500 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Gabelli Funds LLC reduced its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 112,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Pentair worth $9,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 1.8% in the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 113,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,685,000 after purchasing an additional 2,029 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the first quarter worth approximately $489,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the first quarter worth approximately $232,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 6.4% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 42,568 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,637,000 after purchasing an additional 2,568 shares during the period. Finally, Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC bought a new position in shares of Pentair during the first quarter worth $354,000. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on PNR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Pentair from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Pentair from $85.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Pentair from $83.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Pentair from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Pentair from $92.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $92.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jerome O. Pedretti sold 24,747 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.45, for a total value of $2,089,884.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 38,538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,254,534.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Pentair Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of PNR traded up $2.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $88.50. The stock had a trading volume of 1,736,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,106,077. Pentair plc has a 1 year low of $57.18 and a 1 year high of $88.96. The firm has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a PE ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $79.42 and its 200 day moving average is $78.76.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.08. Pentair had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The business had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 19th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.47%.

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.