Acorn Creek Capital LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Eaton Corporation, PLC (NYSE:ETN)

Acorn Creek Capital LLC reduced its stake in Eaton Corporation, PLC (NYSE:ETN) by 13.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,009 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 153 shares during the quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ETN. Crumly & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Eaton by 10.5% during the first quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 1,352 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Westhampton Capital LLC grew its holdings in Eaton by 0.4% during the first quarter. Westhampton Capital LLC now owns 25,227 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,857,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV grew its holdings in Eaton by 2.3% during the first quarter. Tandem Capital Management Corp ADV now owns 13,772 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,744,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Eaton by 34.4% during the first quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 29,410 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,995,000 after purchasing an additional 7,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in Eaton by 23.6% during the first quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 54,285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,756,000 after purchasing an additional 10,365 shares in the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Eaton from $323.00 to $351.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Eaton from $325.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Eaton from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Eaton from $390.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Eaton in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $380.00 target price on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.78.

Eaton Stock Performance

Eaton stock opened at $331.34 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.43, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $310.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $312.81. Eaton Corporation, PLC has a 52 week low of $231.85 and a 52 week high of $379.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The industrial products company reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.70 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $6.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.26 billion. Eaton had a return on equity of 23.41% and a net margin of 15.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Eaton Corporation, PLC will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Eaton’s payout ratio is currently 41.98%.

Insider Activity at Eaton

In other Eaton news, insider Craig Arnold sold 103,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.75, for a total transaction of $33,400,106.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 490,208 shares in the company, valued at $158,214,632. This represents a 17.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael Yelton sold 2,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.87, for a total value of $629,364.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 3,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,014.34. This represents a 38.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 156,660 shares of company stock worth $49,622,894. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.