Short Interest in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) Drops By 16.9%

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,010,000 shares, a decline of 16.9% from the November 15th total of 2,420,000 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PNR opened at $107.16 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $17.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.92. Pentair has a fifty-two week low of $68.08 and a fifty-two week high of $110.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of Pentair stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was 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 directly owns 19,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,916,853.44. This trade represents a 15.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $610,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in Pentair by 3.8% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC grew its position in Pentair by 1.6% in the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 8,121 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $794,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Pentair by 105.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in shares of Pentair by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 36,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,808,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Pentair from $115.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Pentair from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.38.

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.