Anchor Capital Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Anchor Capital Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,352 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 725 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $6,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Eaton by 48.9% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 41,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,533,000 after purchasing an additional 13,497 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton during the fourth quarter worth $297,000. Webster Bank N. A. raised its position in shares of Eaton by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 17,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,949,000 after buying an additional 6,166 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eaton by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,072,000 after buying an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eaton by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,494 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,804,000 after buying an additional 1,694 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eaton news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.98, for a total value of $3,559,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ETN. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Eaton in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Eaton in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $382.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.05.

Eaton Stock Performance

NYSE:ETN opened at $293.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.86, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50. Eaton Co. plc has a fifty-two week low of $255.65 and a fifty-two week high of $379.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $326.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $332.29.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.01. Eaton had a return on equity of 22.62% and a net margin of 15.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.04 dividend. This is a positive change from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.58%.

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.