Eaton (NYSE:ETN) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.12, Briefing.com reports. Eaton had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 20.69%. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.91 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Eaton Price Performance

NYSE ETN opened at $312.03 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $124.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.84, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $307.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $260.80. Eaton has a 1 year low of $165.24 and a 1 year high of $333.05.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total value of $5,395,107.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,116,427.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Eaton news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,116,427.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Heath B. Monesmith sold 13,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.40, for a total transaction of $3,796,067.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 69,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,244,140.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,969 shares of company stock valued at $10,904,774. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ETN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Eaton from $279.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Eaton from $287.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $355.00 price objective (up previously from $340.00) on shares of Eaton in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Eaton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.93.

Eaton Company Profile

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.