Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Purchases 2,479 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 47.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,479 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $1,868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in Eaton by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 52,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,662,000 after buying an additional 2,156 shares in the last quarter. Tilt Investment Management Holdings PBC bought a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter worth about $392,000. Tufton Capital Management raised its stake in Eaton by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 1,343 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services bought a new position in Eaton in the fourth quarter worth about $2,889,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Eaton by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 71,918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,319,000 after buying an additional 2,460 shares in the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ETN. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Eaton from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Eaton from $287.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $312.00 price objective on shares of Eaton in a report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.60.

Insider Activity at Eaton

In related news, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.00, for a total transaction of $1,213,392.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 630 shares in the company, valued at $171,360. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.00, for a total transaction of $1,213,392.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 630 shares in the company, valued at $171,360. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Peter Denk sold 1,731 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.97, for a total transaction of $500,207.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,514 shares in the company, valued at $1,593,380.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,969 shares of company stock worth $10,904,774 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Eaton Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ETN traded down $1.24 during trading on Thursday, reaching $308.94. 1,859,589 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,892,845. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $299.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $253.53. Eaton Co. plc has a 52-week low of $161.12 and a 52-week high of $331.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $123.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.07.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $5.97 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.06 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eaton Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is an increase from Eaton’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio is 46.88%.

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.