Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. lessened its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 27.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,954 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 11,482 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Pentair were worth $3,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in Pentair by 753.8% in the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 333 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 144.9% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Pentair in the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Pentair in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. 92.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pentair Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of Pentair stock traded up $2.55 during trading on Thursday, reaching $90.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,673,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,509,378. Pentair plc has a 1-year low of $72.63 and a 1-year high of $110.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.98. 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 $14.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $988.38 million. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Pentair plc will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Pentair's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PNR. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Pentair from $114.00 to $107.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating and set a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Pentair from $125.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Pentair from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $107.64.

Pentair 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.