Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Invests $768,000 in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,188 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ETN. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in shares of Eaton in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eaton during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Eaton from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Eaton from $262.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Eaton from $287.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eaton

In other news, insider Peter Denk sold 1,731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.97, for a total value of $500,207.07. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,514 shares in the company, valued at $1,593,380.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Peter Denk sold 1,731 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.97, for a total value of $500,207.07. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,514 shares in the company, valued at $1,593,380.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.00, for a total value of $1,213,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $171,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,969 shares of company stock worth $10,904,774. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Eaton Stock Down 1.9 %

ETN stock traded down $5.72 on Friday, hitting $303.22. 3,084,235 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,908,520. Eaton Co. plc has a 12-month low of $161.12 and a 12-month high of $331.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $300.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $254.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $121.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.07.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $5.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.91 billion. Eaton had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 13.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.06 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This is an increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Eaton’s payout ratio is presently 46.88%.

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.