Geode Capital Management LLC Acquires 129,071 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,198,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 129,071 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.07% of Eaton worth $2,714,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Eaton by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,217,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,351,506,000 after acquiring an additional 99,291 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Eaton in the 4th quarter valued at $1,495,582,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Eaton by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,744,691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $910,881,000 after purchasing an additional 323,065 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Eaton by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,419,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $801,798,000 after purchasing an additional 597,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Eaton by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,255,566 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $748,555,000 after buying an additional 37,138 shares in the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Eaton from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. KeyCorp upgraded Eaton from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $340.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Melius cut Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $373.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup cut their price target on Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.16.

Eaton Trading Down 0.8 %

ETN opened at $271.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Eaton Co. plc has a 12 month low of $255.65 and a 12 month high of $379.99. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $331.44.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.01. Eaton had a return on equity of 22.62% and a net margin of 15.25%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is a boost from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. Eaton’s payout ratio is 43.79%.

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.