Steph & Co. Sells 47 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Steph & Co. reduced its stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 638 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 47 shares during the quarter. Steph & Co.’s holdings in Eaton were worth $212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Eaton by 3.0% during the third quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 1,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD raised its holdings in shares of Eaton by 16.2% in the third quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD now owns 215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Westmount Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Eaton by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Westmount Partners LLC now owns 985 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eaton by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 896 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Eaton by 2.1% in the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eaton news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.30, for a total transaction of $1,341,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 51,422 shares in the company, valued at $17,241,796.60. The trade was a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 1,412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $378.58, for a total value of $534,554.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 31,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,811,696. This represents a 4.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 76,981 shares of company stock worth $27,660,117. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Eaton Price Performance

Shares of Eaton stock opened at $342.35 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.06. Eaton Co. plc has a twelve month low of $236.04 and a twelve month high of $379.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $355.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $329.33.

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

Eaton Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued 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 currently 40.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on ETN. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI cut shares of Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and increased their price target for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Eaton from $365.00 to $350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $368.89.

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.