Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Lowers Stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,189,345 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 79,863 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Pentair were worth $119,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in Pentair by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 7,628 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $768,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Pentair by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,194 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Pentair by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 916 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Pentair by 105.5% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 261 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Pentair by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,369 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $540,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pentair Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PNR opened at $89.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.70 billion, a PE ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. Pentair plc has a 1-year low of $72.63 and a 1-year high of $110.71. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $94.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.69.

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

Pentair Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PNR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Baird R W raised shares of Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on Pentair from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.27.

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.