Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Acquires Shares of 24,235 Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 24,235 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,003,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Emerson Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Emerson Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Emerson Electric during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Emerson Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Emerson Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on EMR. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Emerson Electric from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. StockNews.com raised Emerson Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on Emerson Electric in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $147.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Emerson Electric from $113.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Emerson Electric from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.24.

Insider Activity at Emerson Electric

In other news, CEO Surendralal Lanca Karsanbhai sold 16,698 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.33, for a total value of $1,892,384.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 164,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,694,576.81. This represents a 9.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Emerson Electric Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Emerson Electric stock opened at $117.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Emerson Electric Co. has a 1 year low of $90.06 and a 1 year high of $134.85. The firm has a market cap of $66.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.15, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.08.

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.42 billion. Emerson Electric had a net margin of 13.74% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Analysts expect that Emerson Electric Co. will post 5.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Emerson Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $0.5275 dividend. This represents a $2.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Emerson Electric’s payout ratio is currently 50.48%.

Emerson Electric Profile

Emerson Electric Co, a technology and software company, provides various solutions for customers in industrial, commercial, and consumer markets in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. It operates in six segments: Final Control, Control Systems & Software, Measurement & Analytical, AspenTech, Discrete Automation, and Safety & Productivity.