Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) Position Cut by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lowered its position in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN - Free Report) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 247,398 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 4,585 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned 0.06% of Eaton worth $82,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ETN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Eaton by 253.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,273,685 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $753,590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629,856 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Eaton by 27,075.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,073,976 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $355,959,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070,024 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Eaton by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,419,200 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $801,798,000 after purchasing an additional 597,700 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Eaton during the 3rd quarter worth $137,794,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Eaton by 3,508.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 401,728 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $133,321,000 after purchasing an additional 390,595 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Eaton in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $382.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Melius cut shares of Eaton from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $373.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eaton presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $369.30.

Eaton Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of ETN traded up $9.48 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $327.08. 4,690,179 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,498,135. The firm has a market cap of $129.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $351.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $331.12. Eaton Co. plc has a 12-month low of $245.65 and a 12-month 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.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.04. Eaton had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.47 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Eaton

In other Eaton news, insider Craig Arnold sold 61,569 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.97, for a total value of $22,224,561.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 506,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $182,780,769.20. The trade was a 10.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gregory R. Page sold 4,000 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.30, for a total transaction of $1,341,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 51,422 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,241,796.60. This represents a 7.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 76,981 shares of company stock valued at $27,660,117. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.