West Family Investments Inc. Grows Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

West Family Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,862 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Eaton were worth $617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ETN. Breakwater Investment Management boosted its holdings in shares of Eaton by 1,560.0% in the 2nd quarter. Breakwater Investment Management now owns 83 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Eaton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Eaton during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Eaton

In other Eaton news, Director Karenann K. Terrell acquired 500 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $298.97 per share, with a total value of $149,485.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,485. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of Eaton 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 approximately $182,780,769.20. This trade represents a 10.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,705 shares of company stock valued at $24,516,346 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ETN. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Eaton in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $382.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI downgraded Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $333.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Wolfe Research raised Eaton from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. UBS Group started coverage on Eaton in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $431.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Eaton from $327.00 to $320.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $357.83.

Eaton Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of ETN stock opened at $357.83 on Tuesday. Eaton Co. plc has a 1 year low of $224.52 and a 1 year high of $373.49. The stock has a market cap of $141.41 billion, a PE ratio of 38.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s fifty day moving average is $337.19 and its 200-day moving average is $321.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.04. Eaton had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.00%.

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.