Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) Shares Sold by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,639 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Eaton were worth $12,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eaton by 48.9% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 41,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,533,000 after buying an additional 13,497 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 4th quarter worth about $297,000. Webster Bank N. A. increased its position in shares of Eaton by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 17,925 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,949,000 after purchasing an additional 6,166 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in Eaton by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 9,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,072,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Eaton by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 14,494 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,804,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ETN. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Eaton from $405.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Eaton from $335.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Eaton from $382.00 to $326.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Melius Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $373.00 target price on shares of Eaton in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Eaton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.68.

Eaton Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ETN opened at $297.31 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Eaton Co. plc has a 52-week low of $255.65 and a 52-week high of $379.99. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $315.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $331.78. The company has a market capitalization of $116.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results 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 prior year, the firm earned $2.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.79%.

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.