John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Makes New $202,000 Investment in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 840 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETN. FMR LLC raised its position in Eaton by 36.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,921,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,248,960,000 after acquiring an additional 5,270,331 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at about $798,119,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised 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 valued at $411,107,000 after purchasing an additional 2,617,213 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Eaton by 26.2% in 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 during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eaton in the third quarter valued at about $340,500,000. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on ETN shares. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Eaton from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Eaton from $262.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Eaton from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank upped their price target 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. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $312.00 price objective on shares of Eaton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Eaton presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.60.

Eaton Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE ETN opened at $303.22 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $300.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $254.56. The firm has a market cap of $121.14 billion, a PE ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.07. Eaton Co. plc has a 1 year low of $161.12 and a 1 year high of $331.47. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $5.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.91 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 13.88% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.06 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.28 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eaton news, insider Heath B. Monesmith sold 13,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.40, for a total transaction of $3,796,067.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 69,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,244,140.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,116,427.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Heath B. Monesmith sold 13,027 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.40, for a total transaction of $3,796,067.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 69,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,244,140.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,969 shares of company stock worth $10,904,774. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by 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.