Vest Financial LLC Sells 16,722 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Vest Financial LLC trimmed its position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Free Report) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 571,092 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 16,722 shares during the period. Pentair accounts for about 1.0% of Vest Financial LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Vest Financial LLC owned about 0.35% of Pentair worth $57,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP grew 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 buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in shares of Pentair by 753.8% during the 4th 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 period. Eastern Bank raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Pentair by 165.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 525 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Pentair in the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.37% of the company's stock.

Pentair Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE PNR traded down $1.24 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $97.98. 854,449 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,339,355. Pentair plc has a 12 month low of $72.44 and a 12 month high of $110.71. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.58. The company has a market capitalization of $16.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The industrial products company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.06. Pentair had a return on equity of 20.94% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $972.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $970.95 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pentair plc will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Pentair's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Pentair's payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PNR. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Pentair from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Pentair from $106.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on Pentair from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Pentair has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $111.25.

Pentair Company 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.