Heartland Bank & Trust Co Decreases Stock Holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co cut its holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,352 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 78 shares during the quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Eaton were worth $1,112,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Eaton by 253.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,273,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $753,590,000 after buying an additional 1,629,856 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eaton by 27,075.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,073,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $355,959,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070,024 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Eaton by 32.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,419,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $801,798,000 after acquiring an additional 597,700 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in Eaton during the third quarter worth approximately $137,794,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Eaton by 3,508.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 401,728 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $133,321,000 after purchasing an additional 390,595 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ETN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group started coverage on Eaton in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $431.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Eaton from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Eaton in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $382.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Eaton from $365.00 to $350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.89.

Eaton Stock Performance

ETN stock opened at $368.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Eaton Co. plc has a 1-year low of $241.87 and a 1-year high of $379.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $353.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.47. The company has a market capitalization of $145.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.22, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.47 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Eaton

In other news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.98, for a total transaction of $3,559,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,379,403.94. This represents a 18.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total value of $22,224,561.93. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 506,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,780,769.20. The trade was a 10.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 76,981 shares of company stock valued at $27,660,117. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

About Eaton

Eaton Corporation plc operates as a power management company worldwide. The company’s Electrical Americas and Electrical Global segment provides electrical components, industrial components, power distribution and assemblies, residential products, single and three phase power quality and connectivity products, wiring devices, circuit protection products, utility power distribution products, power reliability equipment, and services, as well as hazardous duty electrical equipment, emergency lighting, fire detection, explosion-proof instrumentation, and structural support systems.