Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC Takes Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 697,720 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,552,000. Eaton comprises about 1.2% of Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Eaton by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,217,906 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,351,506,000 after buying an additional 99,291 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Eaton by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,222,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,051,807,000 after purchasing an additional 182,455 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Eaton by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,198,412 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,714,677,000 after purchasing an additional 129,071 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Eaton by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,574,704 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,518,207,000 after buying an additional 368,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Eaton in the fourth quarter worth about $1,495,582,000. 82.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ETN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $289.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Evercore ISI cut their price target 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. KeyCorp increased their target price on Eaton from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on Eaton from $323.00 to $351.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Eaton from $385.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eaton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $361.13.

Eaton Price Performance

Shares of Eaton stock opened at $310.01 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $121.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $282.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $319.96. Eaton Co. plc has a one year low of $231.85 and a one year high of $379.99.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.70 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.26 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 15.25% and a return on equity of 22.62%. Eaton’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Eaton’s payout ratio is 41.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eaton

In related news, insider Michael Yelton sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.87, for a total transaction of $629,364.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 3,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,014.34. This represents a 38.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Craig Arnold sold 51,054 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.43, for a total value of $15,593,423.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 489,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,490,880.92. This represents a 9.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.