Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Pentair Call Options (NYSE:PNR)

Pentair plc (NYSE:PNR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 3,133 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 578% compared to the average volume of 462 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PNR shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Pentair from $107.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Pentair from $122.00 to $115.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Seaport Research Partners dropped their target price on Pentair from $130.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Pentair from $110.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $110.00 price target on Pentair in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pentair currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.86.

Pentair Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:PNR traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $76.42. 189,731 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,949,891. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.92 and a 200 day moving average of $90.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.88. Pentair has a twelve month low of $69.93 and a twelve month high of $113.95. The company has a market capitalization of $12.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05.

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Pentair had a return on equity of 21.92% and a net margin of 15.98%.The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Pentair will post 5.35 EPS for the current year.

Pentair Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Friday, July 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 24th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Pentair’s payout ratio is 26.47%.

Institutional Trading of Pentair

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PNR. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pentair by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,428,737 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $459,480,000 after purchasing an additional 137,980 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in Pentair by 13.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 4,237,659 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,208,000 after acquiring an additional 491,758 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Pentair by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,484,915 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $366,787,000 after acquiring an additional 647,162 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Pentair by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,414,386 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $355,574,000 after purchasing an additional 101,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Pentair by 106.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,236,826 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $358,521,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670,944 shares during the last quarter. 92.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pentair Company Profile

Pentair plc (NYSE: PNR) is a global provider of water treatment and fluid management solutions. The company designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of products that move, treat, monitor and control the flow of water and other fluids across residential, commercial, industrial and municipal markets. Pentair’s offerings are focused on improving water quality, conserving resources and enabling efficient fluid handling in applications from household water systems and pools to large-scale industrial and municipal installations.

Product lines include pumps and pumping systems, water filtration and purification equipment, valves and controls, heat exchangers, pool and spa systems, and a range of aftermarket parts and services.