Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,439,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ETN. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Eaton during the second quarter worth $27,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in Eaton during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Global Trust Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eaton during the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Eaton during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eaton Trading Down 0.4 %

Eaton stock traded down $1.24 during trading on Thursday, hitting $308.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,859,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,892,845. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $299.48 and its 200 day moving average is $253.53. 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 quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.51.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $5.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.91 billion. Eaton had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 13.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.06 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This is a positive change from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eaton news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $5,395,107.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,712 shares in the company, valued at $8,116,427.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was 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 $8,116,427.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.00, for a total value of $1,213,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,969 shares of company stock worth $10,904,774 over the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Eaton from $287.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $312.00 price objective on shares of Eaton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Eaton from $262.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.60.

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.