Versant Capital Management Inc Raises Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 113.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Eaton were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Breakwater Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Eaton by 1,560.0% in the 2nd quarter. Breakwater Investment Management now owns 83 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in Eaton by 83.2% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 4,298 shares during the period. LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Eaton in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Eaton in the third quarter worth $35,000. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Eaton in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $382.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group began coverage on Eaton in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $431.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eaton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 1,412 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,200 shares in the company, valued at $11,811,696. The trade was a 4.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 506,360 shares in the company, valued at $182,780,769.20. The trade was a 10.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 76,981 shares of company stock valued at $27,660,117 over the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Eaton Price Performance

Shares of Eaton stock opened at $342.58 on Friday. 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 Co. plc has a one year low of $233.73 and a one year high of $379.99. The stock has a market cap of $135.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $354.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $327.98.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.37 billion. Eaton had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 15.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.47 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.8 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Announces Dividend

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

Eaton 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.