Eaton Co. plc Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.94 (NYSE:ETN)

Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.94 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%.

Eaton has raised its dividend by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Eaton has a payout ratio of 32.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Eaton to earn $11.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.6%.

Eaton Stock Up 1.5 %

Eaton stock traded up $4.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $312.85. 1,404,381 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,906,869. Eaton has a 1 year low of $161.12 and a 1 year high of $331.47. The firm has a market cap of $124.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $301.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $255.94.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.47 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.91 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 13.88% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.06 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Eaton will post 10.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ETN. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $262.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Eaton from $287.00 to $328.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $312.00 target price on shares of Eaton in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Eaton from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $5,395,107.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,116,427.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Heath B. Monesmith sold 13,027 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.40, for a total transaction of $3,796,067.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 69,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,244,140.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $5,395,107.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,116,427.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 38,969 shares of company stock valued at $10,904,774. Company 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.