Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 121 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $1,186,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ETN. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Eaton by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,921,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,248,960,000 after purchasing an additional 5,270,331 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Eaton in the fourth quarter worth approximately $798,119,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Eaton by 122,471.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,619,350 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $411,107,000 after acquiring an additional 2,617,213 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Eaton by 26.2% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,542,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,968,521,000 after purchasing an additional 2,602,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Eaton in the third quarter worth approximately $340,500,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ETN shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Eaton from $246.00 to $286.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Eaton from $220.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Eaton from $262.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.20.

Eaton Price Performance

NYSE:ETN opened at $314.63 on Thursday. Eaton Co. plc has a one year low of $155.38 and a one year high of $317.02. The company has a market cap of $125.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $278.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.91 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 13.88% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.06 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th will be given a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 8th. This is a boost from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Eaton’s payout ratio is presently 46.88%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were 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 owns 29,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,116,427.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Peter Denk sold 1,731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.97, for a total transaction of $500,207.07. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,593,380.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,116,427.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,969 shares of company stock valued at $10,904,774. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.