Argent Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Argent Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 127,456 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,566 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $42,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ETN. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Eaton by 48.9% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 41,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,533,000 after acquiring an additional 13,497 shares in the last quarter. Interval Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Eaton by 82.7% during the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 151,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,571,000 after purchasing an additional 68,693 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC raised its stake in Eaton by 285.5% during the second quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 5,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,801,000 after buying an additional 4,254 shares during the last quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. raised its stake in Eaton by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 38,386 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,739,000 after buying an additional 2,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eaton in the third quarter worth $1,160,000. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lowered Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Eaton from $365.00 to $350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group started coverage on Eaton in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $431.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Eaton from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eaton news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 4,000 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.30, for a total transaction of $1,341,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 51,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,241,796.60. This trade represents a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 1,412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.58, for a total transaction of $534,554.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 31,200 shares in the company, valued at $11,811,696. This represents a 4.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 76,981 shares of company stock worth $27,660,117 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eaton Stock Performance

Shares of ETN stock opened at $342.35 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $355.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $329.33. Eaton Co. plc has a 12 month low of $236.04 and a 12 month high of $379.99. The firm has a market cap of $135.30 billion, a PE ratio of 36.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Eaton Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. Eaton’s payout ratio is currently 40.00%.

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.