Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) Stock Position Lifted by Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,015 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $1,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. United Bank bought a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $258,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Eaton during the third quarter valued at approximately $295,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,632,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Eaton by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 3,848 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,275,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Eaton by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 488,214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $161,814,000 after purchasing an additional 10,939 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Eaton from $390.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Melius lowered shares of Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $373.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Eaton from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.68.

Eaton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ETN opened at $295.88 on Friday. Eaton Co. plc has a 52-week low of $255.65 and a 52-week high of $379.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.14, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $311.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $331.08.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.01. Eaton had a return on equity of 22.62% and a net margin of 15.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. This is an increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Eaton’s payout ratio is 43.79%.

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.