MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Increases Stock Holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 31.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,744 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,057 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB’s holdings in Eaton were worth $9,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Eaton by 98.5% in the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 1,989 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 987 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in Eaton during the 2nd quarter valued at $270,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Eaton by 1.2% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 10,045 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,150,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Eaton by 19.4% during the second quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 3,327 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,043,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Eaton by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 32,897 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ETN. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Eaton from $440.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America raised their price target on Eaton from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Eaton in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $431.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $333.00 to $389.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.89.

Eaton Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ETN opened at $346.54 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $354.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $329.89. Eaton Co. plc has a 52-week low of $236.20 and a 52-week high of $379.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $136.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.06.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.47 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eaton

In related news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.30, for a total value of $1,341,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 51,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,241,796.60. This represents a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 1,412 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $378.58, for a total transaction of $534,554.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,811,696. This represents a 4.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 76,981 shares of company stock valued at $27,660,117 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.