First Trust Advisors LP Sells 48,364 Shares of Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR)

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in shares of Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 555,395 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 48,364 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.10% of Emerson Electric worth $68,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Emerson Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $885,886,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Emerson Electric during the fourth quarter worth $297,947,000. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of Emerson Electric by 136.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,316,466 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $411,944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,913,120 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Emerson Electric by 234.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,035,934 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $252,313,000 after purchasing an additional 1,426,718 shares during the period. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of Emerson Electric by 120.6% in the fourth quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 1,766,230 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $218,889,000 after acquiring an additional 965,731 shares during the period. 74.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on EMR. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Emerson Electric from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on Emerson Electric from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Emerson Electric from $158.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Emerson Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Emerson Electric in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.67.

Emerson Electric Stock Down 3.2 %

EMR stock opened at $96.39 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Emerson Electric Co. has a twelve month low of $90.06 and a twelve month high of $134.85. The stock has a market cap of $54.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.00, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $110.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.97.

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. Emerson Electric had a net margin of 13.74% and a return on equity of 12.08%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Emerson Electric Co. will post 5.96 EPS for the current year.

Emerson Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.5275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. Emerson Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.36%.

About Emerson Electric

Emerson Electric Co, a technology and software company, provides various solutions for customers in industrial, commercial, and consumer markets in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. It operates in six segments: Final Control, Control Systems & Software, Measurement & Analytical, AspenTech, Discrete Automation, and Safety & Productivity.