Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Increases Holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 47,175 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,843 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $15,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Eaton by 253.2% during 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 valued at $753,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629,856 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Eaton by 32.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,419,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $801,798,000 after purchasing an additional 597,700 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Eaton by 31,255.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 478,164 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $149,928,000 after purchasing an additional 476,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Eaton by 8,348.9% in the 2nd quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 446,524 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $140,008,000 after buying an additional 441,239 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Eaton in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $431.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Eaton from $365.00 to $350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Eaton from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $369.28.

Eaton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ETN traded down $4.91 on Friday, reaching $340.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 730,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,063,991. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $355.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $328.69. Eaton Co. plc has a 52-week low of $236.04 and a 52-week high of $379.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.53. The company has a market cap of $134.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.19, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.06.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.04. Eaton had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.47 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Eaton’s payout ratio is 40.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eaton news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.30, for a total value of $1,341,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 51,422 shares in the company, valued at $17,241,796.60. This trade represents a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total value of $22,224,561.93. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 506,360 shares in the company, valued at $182,780,769.20. This represents a 10.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 76,981 shares of company stock worth $27,660,117 in the last ninety days. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.