Wealth Alliance Acquires 159 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Wealth Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,124 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Eaton were worth $2,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Eaton by 0.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,336,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,749,751,000 after acquiring an additional 176,900 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Eaton by 36.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,921,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,248,960,000 after acquiring an additional 5,270,331 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Eaton by 8.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,538,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,833,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,358,584 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Eaton by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,542,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,968,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602,246 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Eaton by 2.0% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,084,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,210,672,000 after purchasing an additional 136,334 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on ETN. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Eaton from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Eaton from $262.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $312.00 price target on shares of Eaton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Eaton from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $286.00 to $371.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Eaton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $5,395,107.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,116,427.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.00, for a total transaction of $1,213,392.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $171,360. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $5,395,107.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,116,427.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,969 shares of company stock worth $10,904,774. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Eaton Stock Performance

ETN traded up $1.76 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $317.04. 1,093,301 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,882,022. Eaton Co. plc has a fifty-two week low of $161.12 and a fifty-two week high of $331.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $297.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $252.41. The company has a market capitalization of $126.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.31, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.08. Eaton had a net margin of 13.88% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $5.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.06 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This is an increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Eaton’s payout ratio is currently 46.88%.

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.