Eaton (NYSE:ETN) Shares Down 1.3%

Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) shares traded down 1.3% on Friday . The company traded as low as $327.59 and last traded at $328.53. 314,182 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 2,170,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $333.02.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ETN. Barclays boosted their price target on Eaton from $318.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Eaton from $357.00 to $333.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Eaton from $370.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $376.00 to $371.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Eaton from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $337.41.

Eaton Stock Down 1.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $300.70 and a 200 day moving average of $313.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $130.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.01.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.61 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.35 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 15.12% and a return on equity of 21.45%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.75 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.39%.

Insider Transactions at Eaton

In other news, Director Dorothy C. Thompson purchased 2,205 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $300.30 per share, for a total transaction of $662,161.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,205 shares in the company, valued at $662,161.50. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Eaton news, insider Taras G. Jr. Szmagala sold 335 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.72, for a total transaction of $96,721.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,858,328. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dorothy C. Thompson bought 2,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $300.30 per share, with a total value of $662,161.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 2,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,161.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 52,511 shares of company stock valued at $15,809,326. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eaton

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eaton in the 1st quarter valued at $2,176,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Eaton in the first quarter valued at about $813,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at about $554,000. IAM Advisory LLC bought a new position in Eaton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $599,000. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in Eaton by 19.2% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 78,725 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,616,000 after acquiring an additional 12,689 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

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.