Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN Grows Holdings in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN)

Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN grew its stake in Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) by 321.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 97 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN’s holdings in Eaton were worth $32,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Eaton by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 1,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD boosted its position in Eaton by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD now owns 215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Westmount Partners LLC boosted its position in Eaton by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Westmount Partners LLC now owns 985 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Eaton by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,549 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Eaton by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Eaton

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

Eaton Stock Performance

Shares of ETN stock opened at $340.60 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $355.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $329.15. Eaton Co. plc has a 52 week low of $236.04 and a 52 week high of $379.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.61 billion, a PE ratio of 36.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.06. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.80 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.37 billion. Eaton had a net margin of 15.32% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Eaton Co. plc will post 10.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. Eaton’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ETN. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Eaton from $374.00 to $392.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Eaton from $365.00 to $350.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Eaton from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $333.00 to $389.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Eaton from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Eaton from $320.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eaton currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.61.

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.