Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Grows Stock Holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 17.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,199,935 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 175,009 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned 0.30% of Eaton worth $398,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Eaton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in shares of Eaton by 83.2% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 4,298 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its position in Eaton by 321.7% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 97 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Eaton during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ETN. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Eaton from $335.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Eaton from $405.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.16.

Eaton Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE ETN opened at $285.60 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $308.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $331.57. Eaton Co. plc has a fifty-two week low of $255.65 and a fifty-two week high of $379.99. 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 company has a market cap of $111.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 earned $2.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $1.04 dividend. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. This is a boost from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Eaton’s payout ratio is 43.79%.

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.