First Bancorp Inc ME Trims Stock Holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

First Bancorp Inc ME reduced its stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 55 shares during the period. First Bancorp Inc ME’s holdings in Eaton were worth $544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ETN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Eaton by 0.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,336,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,749,751,000 after purchasing an additional 176,900 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Eaton by 36.0% during the third 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 during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Eaton by 3.0% during the second 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 during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Eaton by 26.2% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Eaton by 2.0% during the first 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 during the period. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eaton Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ETN stock opened at $320.16 on Friday. Eaton Co. plc has a fifty-two week low of $155.38 and a fifty-two week high of $326.21. The stock has a market cap of $127.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $289.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Eaton Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Eaton

In related news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $5,395,107.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,116,427.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Heath B. Monesmith sold 13,027 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.40, for a total transaction of $3,796,067.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 69,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,244,140.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total value of $5,395,107.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,116,427.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,969 shares of company stock valued at $10,904,774 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Eaton from $220.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Eaton from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Bank of America upped their price target on Eaton from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Eaton from $262.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Eaton has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.40.

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.