Wedbush Securities Inc. Purchases 784 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,422 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Eaton were worth $3,459,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. United Bank acquired a new stake in Eaton in the 3rd quarter valued at $258,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Eaton during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Eaton by 5.2% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 195,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,747,000 after purchasing an additional 9,612 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Eaton by 50.2% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 34,438 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,414,000 after purchasing an additional 11,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Eaton in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,627,000. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ETN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Eaton from $382.00 to $326.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Eaton from $335.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Eaton from $405.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $356.68.

Eaton Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of ETN stock opened at $246.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $96.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $296.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $330.00. Eaton Co. plc has a 12-month low of $236.58 and a 12-month high of $379.99.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.01. Eaton had a return on equity of 22.62% and a net margin of 15.25%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.55 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Eaton’s payout ratio is currently 43.79%.

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.