Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Grows Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,995 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $3,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Eaton by 253.2% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,273,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $753,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629,856 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eaton by 27,075.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,073,976 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $355,959,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070,024 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Eaton by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,419,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $801,798,000 after purchasing an additional 597,700 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in Eaton in the third quarter valued at approximately $137,794,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Eaton by 3,508.4% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 401,728 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $133,321,000 after buying an additional 390,595 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Melius Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $373.00 target price on shares of Eaton in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Eaton from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Eaton from $407.00 to $405.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI downgraded Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and raised their target price for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $369.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eaton

In related news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 1,412 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were 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 directly owns 31,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,811,696. This represents a 4.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Gregory R. Page sold 10,000 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.98, for a total transaction of $3,559,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 43,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,379,403.94. This trade represents a 18.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Eaton Stock Performance

Shares of ETN opened at $309.93 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $122.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $341.07 and a 200-day moving average of $331.62. Eaton Co. plc has a 1 year low of $255.65 and a 1 year high of $379.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business earned $2.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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.