Orion Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Orion Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,753 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Eaton were worth $663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Eaton by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,315 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Telemus Capital LLC raised its position in Eaton by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Telemus Capital LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Amarillo National Bank raised its position in Eaton by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Amarillo National Bank now owns 1,270 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Monument Capital Management raised its position in Eaton by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 2,415 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Red Spruce Capital LLC raised its position in Eaton by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 17,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,220,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eaton news, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of Eaton stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $171,360. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.00, for a total value of $1,213,392.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,360. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Heath B. Monesmith sold 13,027 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 69,472 shares in the company, valued at $20,244,140.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,969 shares of company stock valued at $10,904,774 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ETN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $312.00 price objective on shares of Eaton in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays upgraded shares of Eaton from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on shares of Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.93.

Eaton Stock Performance

Shares of Eaton stock traded down $1.39 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $316.87. 2,399,528 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,013,530. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $306.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.44. Eaton Co. plc has a 52-week low of $165.24 and a 52-week high of $333.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.07.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.12. Eaton had a net margin of 13.88% and a return on equity of 20.05%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.91 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.28 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.88%.

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.