Fmr LLC Purchases 182,455 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Fmr LLC lifted its holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,222,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 182,455 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned approximately 3.85% of Eaton worth $5,051,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Eaton by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,217,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,351,506,000 after buying an additional 99,291 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Eaton by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,198,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,714,677,000 after purchasing an additional 129,071 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Eaton during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,495,582,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Eaton by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,744,691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $910,881,000 after buying an additional 323,065 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Eaton by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,255,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $748,555,000 after purchasing an additional 37,138 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ETN. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Eaton from $405.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Eaton from $382.00 to $326.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Melius cut shares of Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $373.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $356.68.

Eaton Stock Down 5.6 %

Eaton stock opened at $246.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $296.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $330.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. Eaton Co. plc has a one year low of $236.58 and a one year high of $379.99.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 22.62% and a net margin of 15.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. This is an increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Eaton’s payout ratio is presently 43.79%.

Eaton 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.