Saxon Interests Inc. Raises Stock Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Saxon Interests Inc. boosted its position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,623 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 429 shares during the period. Saxon Interests Inc.’s holdings in Eaton were worth $1,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Eaton by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 5,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its position in Eaton by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 4,884 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,621,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. RDA Financial Network purchased a new stake in Eaton in the 4th quarter valued at about $404,000. Goldstone Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Eaton by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 1,406 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eaton by 307.4% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 106,827 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,453,000 after acquiring an additional 80,606 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ETN. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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 lifted their price objective on Eaton from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Eaton in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $431.00 price target for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Eaton from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.89.

Eaton Stock Performance

Shares of ETN opened at $347.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Eaton Co. plc has a 12-month low of $236.20 and a 12-month high of $379.99. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $355.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.17 billion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.06.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.04. Eaton had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.47 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.8 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total transaction of $22,224,561.93. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 506,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $182,780,769.20. The trade was a 10.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory R. Page sold 4,000 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.30, for a total transaction of $1,341,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 51,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,241,796.60. This trade represents a 7.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 76,981 shares of company stock valued at $27,660,117. Insiders own 0.33% 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.