Ascent Group LLC Acquires 4,257 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Ascent Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 537.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,049 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,257 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $1,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. raised its holdings in Eaton by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 1,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD raised its stake in Eaton by 16.2% in the third quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD now owns 215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lifted its holdings in Eaton by 1.2% in the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 2,776 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $870,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Eaton by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eaton by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 2,551 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $800,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Eaton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ETN opened at $372.22 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm has a market cap of $147.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $348.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.41. Eaton Co. plc has a fifty-two week low of $224.61 and a fifty-two week high of $379.99.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.04. Eaton had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.47 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. Eaton’s payout ratio is currently 40.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ETN. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Eaton from $315.00 to $342.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $374.00 price objective on shares of Eaton in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Eaton in a report on Monday, September 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $348.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Eaton in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $431.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Eaton from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.83.

Insider Activity at Eaton

In other news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 1,412 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.58, for a total transaction of $534,554.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,811,696. The trade was a 4.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total transaction of $22,224,561.93. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 506,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,780,769.20. This represents a 10.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,981 shares of company stock worth $24,100,317. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.