Waterloo Capital L.P. Increases Stock Position in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its position in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN - Free Report) by 97.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,700 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 1,823 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P.'s holdings in Eaton were worth $1,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Eaton by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,217,906 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $12,351,506,000 after acquiring an additional 99,291 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Eaton by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,198,412 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,714,677,000 after purchasing an additional 129,071 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Eaton during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,495,582,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Eaton by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,744,691 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $910,881,000 after buying an additional 323,065 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Eaton by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,255,566 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $748,555,000 after buying an additional 37,138 shares during the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $315.00 to $306.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Eaton from $350.00 to $289.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Melius cut Eaton from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $373.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of Eaton from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eaton has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $355.06.

Eaton Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ETN traded up $6.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $277.13. The company had a trading volume of 3,833,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,620,567. The company has a fifty day moving average of $289.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $327.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Eaton Co. plc has a 12-month low of $231.85 and a 12-month high of $379.99. The company has a market cap of $108.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 12.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $1.04 dividend. This is a positive change from Eaton's previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Eaton's dividend payout ratio is 43.79%.

Eaton 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.