Eaton Corporation, PLC (NYSE:ETN) to Issue Dividend Increase – $1.10 Per Share

Eaton Corporation, PLC (NYSE:ETN) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of 1.10 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, March 27th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. This is a 5.8% increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.04.

Eaton has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years. Eaton has a payout ratio of 34.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Eaton to earn $13.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.8%.

Eaton Trading Down 0.5%

Eaton stock traded down $2.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $372.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 161,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,991,357. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $347.63 and a 200-day moving average of $354.81. Eaton has a one year low of $231.85 and a one year high of $408.45. The stock has a market cap of $144.70 billion, a PE ratio of 35.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.20.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter. Eaton had a return on equity of 25.00% and a net margin of 14.89%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Eaton will post 12.02 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ETN. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Eaton from $442.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $407.00 price objective on shares of Eaton in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Eaton in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Eaton from $440.00 to $406.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Eaton in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $389.89.

Eaton Company Profile

Eaton (NYSE: ETN) is a diversified power management company that designs, manufactures and distributes products and systems to manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power. The company’s offerings are used to improve energy efficiency, reliability and safety across a wide range of applications, with core capabilities in electrical distribution and control, industrial hydraulics and aerospace systems.

Its product portfolio includes switchgear, circuit breakers, transformers, power distribution units, uninterruptible power supplies and surge protection devices for electrical infrastructure, along with hydraulic pumps, valves and filtration systems for industrial and mobile equipment.