KBC Group NV Sells 164,803 Shares of Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR)

KBC Group NV cut its stake in Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,037,640 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 164,803 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned about 0.63% of Pentair worth $104,428,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PNR. State Street Corp raised its position in Pentair by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,756,075 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $856,257,000 after purchasing an additional 259,922 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Pentair by 4.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,704,672 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $557,860,000 after acquiring an additional 258,134 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Pentair by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,999,519 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $389,800,000 after acquiring an additional 19,853 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Pentair by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,489,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,823,000 after acquiring an additional 158,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Pentair by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,351,271 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $132,141,000 after acquiring an additional 205,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.37% of the company’s stock.

Pentair Price Performance

NYSE:PNR opened at $103.02 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Pentair plc has a 52 week low of $70.98 and a 52 week high of $110.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $104.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.02.

Pentair Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Pentair’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Pentair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Pentair

In other Pentair news, EVP Philip M. Rolchigo sold 3,588 shares of Pentair stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.67, for a total transaction of $357,615.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,916,853.44. The trade was a 15.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on PNR. StockNews.com cut Pentair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Pentair from $126.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Pentair from $126.00 to $119.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Pentair from $93.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Pentair in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.07.

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.