Short Interest in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) Drops By 7.1%

Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,730,000 shares, a decline of 7.1% from the January 15th total of 5,090,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 10,000 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.98, for a total transaction of $3,559,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 43,203 shares in the company, valued at $15,379,403.94. The trade was a 18.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 1,412 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.58, for a total transaction of $534,554.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 31,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,811,696. This trade represents a 4.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ETN. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings in Eaton by 83.2% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 4,298 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN raised its holdings in Eaton by 321.7% in the fourth 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. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Eaton in the third quarter valued at $33,000. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eaton Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE ETN traded up $1.40 during trading on Monday, reaching $309.21. 3,174,331 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,669,676. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $337.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $331.89. Eaton has a twelve month low of $255.65 and a twelve month high of $379.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $122.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.05.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.01. Eaton had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 22.62%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Eaton will post 12.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Eaton from $350.00 to $335.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $369.20.

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.