Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. Invests $996,000 in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of Eaton during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in shares of Eaton by 83.2% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 9,463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 4,298 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN lifted its holdings in Eaton by 321.7% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 97 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Eaton during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Eaton by 621.4% during the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ETN. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Eaton from $335.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Eaton in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $431.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Eaton from $405.00 to $376.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Eaton from $350.00 to $348.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Melius lowered Eaton from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $373.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eaton

In related news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 10,000 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.98, for a total value of $3,559,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,379,403.94. The trade was a 18.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Eaton Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of ETN opened at $277.03 on Friday. Eaton Co. plc has a fifty-two week low of $255.65 and a fifty-two week high of $379.99. The firm has a market cap of $108.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $322.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $331.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.50.

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

Eaton Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $1.04 dividend. This is a boost from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Eaton’s payout ratio is 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.