Bank of New Hampshire Sells 247 Shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Bank of New Hampshire trimmed its stake in shares of Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,521 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 247 shares during the quarter. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in Eaton were worth $2,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. grew its stake in Eaton by 3.0% during the third quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 1,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD grew its stake in Eaton by 16.2% during the third quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD now owns 215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Eaton by 2.1% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Eaton by 3.7% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co grew its stake in Eaton by 0.6% during the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 5,390 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,789,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ETN. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Eaton from $315.00 to $342.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Eaton in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $382.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Eaton from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Eaton from $350.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eaton

In other Eaton news, Director Gregory R. Page sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.30, for a total value of $1,341,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 51,422 shares in the company, valued at $17,241,796.60. The trade was a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 approximately $182,780,769.20. This trade represents a 10.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 76,981 shares of company stock worth $27,660,117 over the last ninety days. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Eaton Stock Performance

Eaton stock traded down $2.22 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $346.34. 579,584 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,969,123. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $354.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $328.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.06. Eaton Co. plc has a one year low of $234.20 and a one year 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) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 billion. Eaton had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 15.32%. Eaton’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Eaton’s payout ratio is presently 40.00%.

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.