Melius Downgrades Eaton (NYSE:ETN) to Hold

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) was downgraded by research analysts at Melius from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $373.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock. Melius’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.28% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ETN. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Eaton from $365.00 to $350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on Eaton from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI cut Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and raised their target price for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Eaton from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $369.11.

Eaton Price Performance

ETN stock opened at $310.11 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.99, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $353.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $331.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Eaton has a 12-month low of $244.35 and a 12-month high of $379.99.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.04. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Eaton will post 10.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total value of $22,224,561.93. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 506,360 shares in the company, valued at $182,780,769.20. This represents a 10.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 1,412 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.58, for a total transaction of $534,554.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 31,200 shares in the company, valued at $11,811,696. This represents a 4.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 76,981 shares of company stock valued at $27,660,117 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ETN. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Eaton by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 89,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,764,000 after purchasing an additional 2,686 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Eaton by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,436,051 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $476,582,000 after buying an additional 13,862 shares in the last quarter. Telligent Fund LP purchased a new position in Eaton during the fourth quarter valued at $1,991,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Eaton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp bought a new position in shares of Eaton during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Eaton Company 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.