OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Cuts Stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lessened its stake in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 393 shares during the quarter. Eaton makes up about 1.0% of OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Eaton were worth $3,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in Eaton by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,724 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. BCS Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Eaton during the 3rd quarter worth $216,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Eaton by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 34,071 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,205,000 after acquiring an additional 7,964 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC bought a new stake in Eaton in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,958,000. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in Eaton during the third quarter valued at about $479,000. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eaton news, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.00, for a total transaction of $1,213,392.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,360. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $5,395,107.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,712 shares in the company, valued at $8,116,427.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.00, for a total transaction of $1,213,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $171,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,969 shares of company stock valued at $10,904,774 over the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ETN shares. Berenberg Bank boosted their price target on shares of Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and set a $312.00 target price on shares of Eaton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Eaton from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised Eaton from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $250.00 to $300.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.60.

Eaton Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ETN traded up $4.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $314.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 413,091 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,872,783. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Eaton Co. plc has a 52 week low of $161.12 and a 52 week high of $331.47. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $299.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.53. The stock has a market cap of $125.61 billion, a PE ratio of 38.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.08. Eaton had a net margin of 13.88% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The business had revenue of $5.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.