First City Capital Management Inc. Purchases 70 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

First City Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the quarter. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Eaton were worth $1,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,495,582,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Eaton by 27,281.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,593,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $976,772,000 after purchasing an additional 3,580,198 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter worth about $523,541,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Eaton by 42,255.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 732,323 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $243,036,000 after purchasing an additional 730,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter worth about $231,552,000. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Michael Yelton sold 2,120 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.87, for a total transaction of $629,364.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 3,382 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,014.34. This trade represents a 38.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Craig Arnold sold 103,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.75, for a total value of $33,400,106.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 490,208 shares in the company, valued at $158,214,632. This trade represents a 17.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 156,660 shares of company stock worth $49,622,894. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ETN. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $326.00 to $349.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Eaton from $385.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Eaton from $390.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Eaton from $315.00 to $306.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.83.

Eaton Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ETN opened at $331.71 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $298.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $316.64. The firm has a market cap of $129.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.16. Eaton Co. plc has a 52 week low of $231.85 and a 52 week high of $379.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.70 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $6.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.26 billion. Eaton had a return on equity of 22.62% and a net margin of 15.25%. Eaton’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.98%.

Eaton 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.