Eaton (NYSE:ETN) Rating Reiterated by Mizuho

Mizuho reiterated their buy rating on shares of Eaton (NYSE:ETN) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $355.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $340.00.

ETN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised Eaton from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $286.00 to $371.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised Eaton from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Eaton from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $314.27.

Eaton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ETN opened at $320.50 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $308.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $261.94. The stock has a market cap of $128.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.06. Eaton has a fifty-two week low of $165.24 and a fifty-two week high of $333.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.91 billion. Eaton had a return on equity of 20.69% and a net margin of 14.38%. Eaton’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Eaton will post 10.45 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is 44.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,116,427.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Heath B. Monesmith sold 13,027 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.40, for a total value of $3,796,067.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 69,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,244,140.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,116,427.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,969 shares of company stock worth $10,904,774 in the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eaton

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Eaton by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,595,656 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,812,966,000 after purchasing an additional 259,615 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Eaton by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,921,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,248,960,000 after buying an additional 5,270,331 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Eaton by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,009,435 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,068,412,000 after buying an additional 109,775 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Eaton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,087,983,000. Finally, Coatue Management LLC increased its position in Eaton by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 3,986,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $960,016,000 after buying an additional 195,809 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.