Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,210,000 shares, an increase of 39.0% from the March 15th total of 2,310,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,620,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Pentair Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of PNR traded up $2.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $90.15. The company had a trading volume of 462,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,653,886. Pentair has a 1-year low of $72.63 and a 1-year high of $110.71. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $87.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.98. The stock has a market cap of $14.87 billion, a PE ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

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

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Pentair's payout ratio is currently 26.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PNR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $95.00 price target on Pentair and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Pentair from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Pentair from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded Pentair from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a "sector weight" rating and issued a $115.00 target price on shares of Pentair in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $107.64.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pentair in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Pentair in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Pentair in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 753.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its position in shares of Pentair by 230.8% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 344 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. 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.