Robert W. Baird Upgrades Pentair (NYSE:PNR) to Outperform

Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Robert W. Baird currently has $114.00 price target on the industrial products company's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on PNR. StockNews.com raised shares of Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Pentair from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp restated a "sector weight" rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pentair currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.27.

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Pentair Price Performance

PNR stock traded down $2.55 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $86.76. 1,068,217 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,466,819. The stock has a market cap of $14.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.23. Pentair has a fifty-two week low of $72.63 and a fifty-two week high of $110.71. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $94.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.60.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $970.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. Pentair's revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Pentair will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Pentair's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 111 Capital acquired a new position in Pentair in the 4th quarter valued at about $618,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Pentair by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 91,737 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $9,232,000 after acquiring an additional 6,504 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new stake in Pentair in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,518,000. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV lifted its holdings in Pentair by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 4,201 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its holdings in Pentair by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 6,805 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company's stock.

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.