Altman Advisors Inc. Sells 103 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Altman Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,919 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 103 shares during the quarter. Altman Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Eaton were worth $2,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Eaton during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its holdings in Eaton by 321.7% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 97 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Eaton in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on ETN shares. StockNews.com lowered Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Eaton from $382.00 to $326.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Eaton from $405.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Melius cut shares of Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $373.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.06.

Eaton Price Performance

Eaton stock opened at $277.13 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $289.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $327.22. Eaton Co. plc has a one year low of $231.85 and a one year high of $379.99. The company has a market capitalization of $108.57 billion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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

Eaton Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $1.04 per share. This is a positive change from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.79%.

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.