Pentair climbs after Nelson Peltz's Trian discloses 7.2 percent stake, pushes for acquisitions

Shares of Pentair jumped Tuesday after regulatory filings showed activist investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management has taken a stake in the water and fluid-products systems company and is pushing it to consider acquisitions.

According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Trian now owns 13 million shares, or 7.2 percent of Pentair's stock. That makes it one of the company's biggest shareholders. The firm says it has met with Pentair management, including Chairman and CEO Randall Hogan, and encouraged the company to try to boost shareholder value through mergers and acquisitions. It also said Pentair should create new incentive programs to attract and keep executives and key employees.

Pentair PLC was the largest gainer on the S&P 500 index in early afternoon trading. Its stock rose $4.62, or 7.2 percent, to $69.05.

With Tuesday's trading, shares of the U.K.-based company are up 4 percent in 2015 and have fallen 4 percent over the last year.

Pentair did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trian owns stakes in companies including PepsiCo., Mondelez International Inc., Tiffany & Co., DuPont and Wendy's Co. Peltz is Wendy's chairman. The company launched a proxy fight against DuPont earlier this year after criticizing the chemicals maker for missing its earnings targets and failing to meet its goals and pushed it to split itself into two companies. However DuPont shareholders didn't elect any of Peltz's nominees at the company's annual meeting in May.