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

Eaton Co. plc (NYSE:ETN) declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

Eaton has raised its dividend 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 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 1.9 %

NYSE:ETN opened at $318.93 on Thursday. Eaton has a 1 year low of $161.12 and a 1 year high of $331.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $127.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.77, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $303.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.09.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The industrial products company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Eaton will post 10.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ETN. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Eaton from $262.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Eaton from $287.00 to $328.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays raised Eaton from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Mizuho increased their price target on Eaton from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Eaton from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $286.00 to $371.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Eaton currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.60.

Insider Transactions at Eaton

In other news, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ernest W. Marshall, Jr. sold 19,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $5,395,107.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,116,427.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Olivier Leonetti sold 4,461 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $171,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 38,969 shares of company stock worth $10,904,774. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

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.