Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $357.16.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ETN shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Eaton from $405.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Eaton from $390.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. KeyCorp raised Eaton from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Eaton from $382.00 to $326.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Eaton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ETN opened at $284.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $111.42 billion, a PE ratio of 29.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $301.05 and a 200-day moving average of $330.91. Eaton has a one year low of $255.65 and a one year high of $379.99.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the business posted $2.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eaton will post 12.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. This is an increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.79%.

Institutional Trading of Eaton

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ETN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,495,582,000. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Eaton in the fourth quarter worth $523,541,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eaton by 42,255.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 732,323 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $243,036,000 after buying an additional 730,594 shares during the period. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Eaton in the 4th quarter valued at $231,552,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 597,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

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.