Eaton (NYSE:ETN) Downgraded by Melius to “Hold”

Melius lowered shares of Eaton (NYSE:ETN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Melius currently has $373.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on ETN. Mizuho boosted their price target on Eaton from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Eaton from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Eaton in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $431.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $369.30.

Eaton Stock Up 0.2 %

ETN stock opened at $312.26 on Tuesday. Eaton has a twelve month low of $244.35 and a twelve month high of $379.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $123.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.22, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $353.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $331.34.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.04. Eaton had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 15.32%. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.47 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Eaton will post 10.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Eaton

In other Eaton news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.98, for a total value of $3,559,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 43,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,379,403.94. This represents a 18.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total value of $22,224,561.93. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 506,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $182,780,769.20. This represents a 10.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 76,981 shares of company stock worth $27,660,117 in the last quarter. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eaton

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ETN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eaton by 253.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,273,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $753,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629,856 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eaton by 27,075.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,073,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $355,959,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070,024 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake 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 during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 3rd quarter worth $137,794,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Eaton by 3,508.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 401,728 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $133,321,000 after purchasing an additional 390,595 shares during the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.