Pentair (NYSE:PNR) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Pentair from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Pentair from $101.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.80.

Pentair Stock Performance

NYSE:PNR traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $98.00. 1,426,359 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,561,014. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.20. Pentair has a 1 year low of $57.18 and a 1 year high of $99.96. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $993.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $988.53 million. Pentair had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The business’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Pentair will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pentair

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,727,718 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $209,132,000 after purchasing an additional 53,787 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased 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 valued at $159,655,000 after acquiring an additional 996,325 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Pentair by 6.9% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 105,724 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in Pentair by 352.5% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,577,208 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,695,000 after acquiring an additional 1,228,635 shares during the period. 92.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.