Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Eaton (NYSE:ETN)

Eaton Corporation, PLC (NYSE:ETN) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 9,901 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 32% compared to the average daily volume of 7,493 call options.

Eaton Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE ETN opened at $424.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $164.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.17. Eaton has a 12-month low of $283.00 and a 12-month high of $432.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $375.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $359.00.

Eaton (NYSE:ETN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The industrial products company reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $7.06 billion for the quarter. Eaton had a return on equity of 25.00% and a net margin of 14.89%. Equities research analysts expect that Eaton will post 13.31 EPS for the current year.

Eaton Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Eaton’s payout ratio is presently 42.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eaton news, insider Sternadt Paulo Ruiz sold 10,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.26, for a total transaction of $4,178,513.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 27,729 shares in the company, valued at $10,821,519.54. This trade represents a 27.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eaton

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETN. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Eaton by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,341 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Eaton by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 913 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Eaton by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,402 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,556,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Eaton during the 2nd quarter valued at $259,000. Finally, Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Eaton by 70.1% during the 2nd quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,216 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ETN. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Eaton in a report on Monday, March 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $430.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on Eaton from $354.00 to $340.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on Eaton from $435.00 to $464.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Eaton in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Eaton from $440.00 to $406.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $396.50.

About Eaton

Eaton (NYSE: ETN) is a diversified power management company that designs, manufactures and distributes products and systems to manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power. The company’s offerings are used to improve energy efficiency, reliability and safety across a wide range of applications, with core capabilities in electrical distribution and control, industrial hydraulics and aerospace systems.

Its product portfolio includes switchgear, circuit breakers, transformers, power distribution units, uninterruptible power supplies and surge protection devices for electrical infrastructure, along with hydraulic pumps, valves and filtration systems for industrial and mobile equipment.