Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Buys 3,843 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its stake in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 47,175 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,843 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $15,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Breakwater Investment Management raised its position in Eaton by 1,560.0% in the second quarter. Breakwater Investment Management now owns 83 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in shares of Eaton by 83.2% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 4,298 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Eaton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Eaton in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Eaton during the third quarter valued at $37,000. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America increased their price target on Eaton from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays upped their price target 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. Mizuho upped their target price on Eaton from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Eaton from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $369.28.

Insider Activity at Eaton

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

Eaton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ETN traded down $4.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $340.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 730,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,063,991. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.19, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $355.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $328.69. Eaton Co. plc has a 12-month low of $236.04 and a 12-month high of $379.99.

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

Eaton Dividend Announcement

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

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.