Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 207,669 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,191 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Pentair worth $15,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PNR. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the second quarter worth $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 376.1% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the second quarter worth $48,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Pentair in the first quarter worth $56,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pentair by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 876 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Stock Performance

Pentair stock opened at $86.09 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $82.51 and a 200-day moving average of $81.20. The firm has a market cap of $14.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.20. Pentair plc has a 1-year low of $57.18 and a 1-year high of $89.63.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.08. Pentair had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 20.39%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. Pentair’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Pentair plc will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PNR. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Pentair from $90.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Pentair from $92.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Pentair from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised Pentair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Pentair from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.87.

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.