Eaton (NYSE:ETN) Reaches New 1-Year High at $318.36

Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $318.36 and last traded at $317.79, with a volume of 222831 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $314.75.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ETN. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Eaton from $220.00 to $257.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Barclays raised shares of Eaton from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $250.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Eaton from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $281.73.

Eaton Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $287.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $246.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.07.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $5.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.91 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 13.88% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.06 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This is an increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.88%.

Insider Activity at Eaton

In related news, insider Peter Denk sold 1,731 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.97, for a total value of $500,207.07. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,593,380.58. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Eaton news, insider Peter Denk sold 1,731 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.97, for a total transaction of $500,207.07. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,593,380.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.00, for a total transaction of $1,213,392.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 630 shares in the company, valued at $171,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,969 shares of company stock worth $10,904,774 in the last ninety days. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eaton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Eaton by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,595,656 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,812,966,000 after purchasing an additional 259,615 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eaton by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,921,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,248,960,000 after purchasing an additional 5,270,331 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Eaton by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,034,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,425,595,000 after purchasing an additional 495,948 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Eaton by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,542,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,968,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eaton by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,084,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,210,672,000 after purchasing an additional 136,334 shares in the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Eaton

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.