Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Trims Holdings in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lessened its stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 37.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 238,943 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 141,715 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.14% of Pentair worth $24,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tsfg LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair during the 4th quarter worth about $295,000. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 13,391 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,348,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the period. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Pentair during the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,000. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in Pentair by 144.9% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 507 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in shares of Pentair during the 4th quarter worth $989,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Pentair Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE PNR traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $102.98. The company had a trading volume of 993,945 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,049,377. The firm's 50 day moving average is $104.29 and its 200 day moving average is $94.52. The company has a market capitalization of $17.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.21. Pentair plc has a fifty-two week low of $69.56 and a fifty-two week high of $110.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $993.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $988.53 million. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 16.29%. The company's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pentair plc will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Pentair's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Pentair's dividend payout ratio is 25.00%.

Insider Activity at Pentair

In other Pentair news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,916,853.44. This represents a 15.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PNR. Barclays lifted their price objective on Pentair from $108.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $115.00 price target on shares of Pentair in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Pentair in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Pentair from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $111.13.

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.