Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 417 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $8,839,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 4,298 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN increased its stake in shares of Eaton by 321.7% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 97 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Eaton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Eaton during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Eaton in the third quarter worth about $37,000. 82.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eaton Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ETN opened at $339.79 on Wednesday. Eaton Co. plc has a 52-week low of $236.04 and a 52-week high of $379.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.15, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.53. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $355.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $329.33.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 billion. Eaton had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 15.32%. Eaton’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.47 EPS. Analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.8 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total transaction of $22,224,561.93. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 506,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $182,780,769.20. The trade was a 10.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Gregory R. Page sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.98, for a total value of $3,559,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 43,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,379,403.94. The trade was a 18.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 76,981 shares of company stock valued at $27,660,117. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Eaton in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $382.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Eaton from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Eaton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.61.

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.