First Manhattan CO. LLC. Raises Holdings in Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its stake in Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 976 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Emerson Electric were worth $959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in Emerson Electric by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 6,042 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Emerson Electric by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,898,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $235,251,000 after purchasing an additional 29,899 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in Emerson Electric by 3,866.2% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,022,517 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $374,581,000 after purchasing an additional 2,946,310 shares during the period. Eagle Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Emerson Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $201,000. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in Emerson Electric by 55.1% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.30% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Surendralal Lanca Karsanbhai sold 16,698 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.33, for a total transaction of $1,892,384.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 164,957 shares in the company, valued at $18,694,576.81. This trade represents a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EMR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Emerson Electric from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Emerson Electric from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Emerson Electric from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Emerson Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on Emerson Electric from $158.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.88.

Emerson Electric Price Performance

NYSE:EMR opened at $112.55 on Monday. Emerson Electric Co. has a one year low of $90.06 and a one year high of $134.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $63.31 billion, a PE ratio of 26.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $106.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.59.

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.42 billion. Emerson Electric had a return on equity of 12.08% and a net margin of 13.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Emerson Electric Co. will post 5.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Emerson Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.5275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Emerson Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.48%.

About Emerson Electric

Emerson Electric Co, a technology and software company, provides various solutions for customers in industrial, commercial, and consumer markets in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. It operates in six segments: Final Control, Control Systems & Software, Measurement & Analytical, AspenTech, Discrete Automation, and Safety & Productivity.