Abacus Planning Group Inc. Buys New Holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. bought a new stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,078 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC purchased a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Steward Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Tucker Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Eaton in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, AXS Investments LLC purchased a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Eaton from $188.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Eaton from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Eaton from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Argus raised their target price on shares of Eaton from $195.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Eaton from $170.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $211.93.

Eaton Stock Performance

NYSE:ETN opened at $222.15 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $217.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $189.77. Eaton Co. plc has a 1-year low of $129.85 and a 1-year high of $240.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $88.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.11.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.11 by $0.10. Eaton had a return on equity of 19.06% and a net margin of 12.29%. The company had revenue of $5.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.87 earnings per share. Eaton’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 8.81 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 7th were issued a $0.86 dividend. This represents a $3.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 4th. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eaton

In other Eaton news, insider Thomas B. Okray sold 4,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.09, for a total value of $1,143,895.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,702,440.03. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Taras G. Jr. Szmagala sold 1,869 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.68, for a total transaction of $423,664.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,684,459.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Thomas B. Okray sold 4,950 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.09, for a total value of $1,143,895.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,702,440.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 116,650 shares of company stock valued at $25,686,391. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company 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.