Board of the Pension Protection Fund Makes New $1.10 Million Investment in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,095,000. Eaton makes up 1.3% of Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in Eaton by 83.2% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 4,298 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its stake in Eaton by 321.7% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 97 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Eaton in the third quarter worth about $33,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Eaton during the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Eaton

In other 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 value of $1,341,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 51,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,241,796.60. This trade represents a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total transaction of $22,224,561.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 506,360 shares in the company, valued at $182,780,769.20. The trade was a 10.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 76,981 shares of company stock valued at $27,660,117. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ETN. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Eaton in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $382.00 target price for the company. Bank of America increased their price target on Eaton from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Eaton from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.61.

Eaton Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ETN opened at $339.79 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $134.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $355.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.33. Eaton Co. plc has a 52 week low of $236.04 and a 52 week high of $379.99.

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

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is 40.00%.

Eaton 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.