TD Asset Management Inc. Increases Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

TD Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,935,890 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 107,979 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Eaton were worth $642,464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ETN. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Eaton by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,217,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,351,506,000 after acquiring an additional 99,291 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eaton by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,069,341 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,665,342,000 after purchasing an additional 56,516 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eaton by 15.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,421,626 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $836,938,000 after purchasing an additional 316,830 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Eaton by 32.8% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Eaton by 253.2% in 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 worth $753,590,000 after buying an additional 1,629,856 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ETN. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Eaton from $335.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Eaton from $405.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Melius Research restated a “hold” rating and set a $373.00 price objective on shares of Eaton in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays lowered their target price on Eaton from $353.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Eaton from $390.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $357.68.

Eaton Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE:ETN opened at $303.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. Eaton Co. plc has a 52 week low of $255.65 and a 52 week high of $379.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $310.56 and a 200 day moving average of $331.79.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the firm posted $2.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. This is a positive change from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Eaton’s payout ratio is presently 43.79%.

Eaton 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.