Larson Financial Group LLC Sells 771 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Larson Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,718 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 771 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $3,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $5,395,107.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 hyperlink. In other news, insider Peter Denk sold 1,731 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.97, for a total transaction of $500,207.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,514 shares in the company, valued at $1,593,380.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total value of $5,395,107.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,116,427.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,969 shares of company stock worth $10,904,774 over the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ETN. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Eaton from $262.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America raised their price target on Eaton from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on Eaton from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Barclays raised Eaton from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Eaton from $287.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.60.

Eaton Stock Up 1.7 %

Eaton stock traded up $5.16 on Monday, hitting $308.18. 2,379,197 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,914,643. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $123.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $301.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $255.94. Eaton Co. plc has a 1 year low of $161.12 and a 1 year high of $331.47.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.08. Eaton had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 13.88%. The business had revenue of $5.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This is an increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.88%.

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.