Blair William & Co. IL Raises Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 32.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 82,888 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,275 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Eaton were worth $27,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ETN. United Bank purchased a new stake in Eaton in the 3rd quarter valued at about $258,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Eaton by 2.1% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 2,116 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Eaton by 48.1% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,081 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Eaton by 117.2% during the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,433 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $806,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Eaton by 0.4% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 86,571 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,693,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ETN. Melius downgraded Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $373.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Eaton from $382.00 to $326.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Eaton from $335.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.16.

Eaton Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Eaton stock opened at $281.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Eaton Co. plc has a 1-year low of $255.65 and a 1-year high of $379.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $307.35 and a 200-day moving average of $331.22. The company has a market capitalization of $110.10 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.01. Eaton had a return on equity of 22.62% and a net margin of 15.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. This is a positive change from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.79%.

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.