Eaton Co. plc Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.94 (NYSE:ETN)

Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.94 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%.

Eaton has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Eaton has a dividend payout ratio of 32.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Eaton to earn $11.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.6%.

Eaton Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of ETN opened at $312.90 on Wednesday. Eaton has a 52 week low of $161.12 and a 52 week high of $331.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $125.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.02, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $302.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $256.66.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.47 by $0.08. Eaton had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 13.88%. The firm had revenue of $5.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Eaton will post 10.28 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ETN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Eaton from $255.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on Eaton from $200.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Eaton from $287.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Eaton from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $286.00 to $371.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Eaton from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. 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 stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Heath B. Monesmith sold 13,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.40, for a total transaction of $3,796,067.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 69,472 shares in the company, valued at $20,244,140.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Heath B. Monesmith sold 13,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.40, for a total transaction of $3,796,067.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 69,472 shares in the company, valued at $20,244,140.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total value of $5,395,107.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,116,427.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,969 shares of company stock valued at $10,904,774 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.