Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $318.06.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $312.00 price objective on shares of Eaton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Eaton from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $286.00 to $371.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Bank of America raised their target price on Eaton from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Eaton from $287.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of Eaton from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd.

Eaton Price Performance

Shares of ETN opened at $312.19 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $325.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $293.12. Eaton has a 1-year low of $191.82 and a 1-year high of $345.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.81 billion, a PE ratio of 36.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.02.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.12. Eaton had a return on equity of 20.69% and a net margin of 14.38%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.91 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Eaton will post 10.56 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Eaton’s payout ratio is 44.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eaton

In other Eaton news, insider Peter Denk sold 2,416 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.84, for a total transaction of $801,725.44. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,687,738.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Eaton by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,595,656 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,812,966,000 after buying an additional 259,615 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Eaton during the 4th quarter worth $1,087,983,000. Coatue Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Eaton by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 3,986,445 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $960,016,000 after acquiring an additional 195,809 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Eaton by 1.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,804,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,189,488,000 after purchasing an additional 64,446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in Eaton by 323.8% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,192,576 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $998,255,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439,270 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.