Eaton (NYSE:ETN) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Royal Bank of Canada Analyst Says

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) had its target price upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $374.00 to $392.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

ETN has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Eaton from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Eaton in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $382.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI lowered Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Eaton from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.83.

Eaton Stock Performance

NYSE:ETN opened at $342.58 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $354.71 and its 200-day moving average is $327.98. The company has a market cap of $135.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.44, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.53. Eaton has a 52-week low of $233.73 and a 52-week high of $379.99.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Eaton will post 10.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total value of $22,224,561.93. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 506,360 shares in the company, valued at $182,780,769.20. This trade represents a 10.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 1,412 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.58, for a total transaction of $534,554.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 31,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,811,696. This trade represents a 4.33 % 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 over the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eaton

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eaton by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,123 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,355,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Eaton by 113.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Eaton by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 457,350 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $151,584,000 after buying an additional 17,965 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Eaton by 48.9% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 41,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,533,000 after buying an additional 13,497 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS bought a new stake in shares of Eaton during the third quarter worth $385,000. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

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.