Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Reduces Stock Position in Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. decreased its stake in shares of Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR - Free Report) by 36.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,029 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 7,923 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Emerson Electric were worth $1,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Emerson Electric by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,536,974 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,634,837,000 after buying an additional 384,313 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Emerson Electric by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,685,615 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,443,725,000 after purchasing an additional 232,540 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Emerson Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $885,886,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Emerson Electric by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,013,550 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $871,083,000 after buying an additional 375,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in Emerson Electric by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 4,376,492 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $542,379,000 after acquiring an additional 171,946 shares during the period. 74.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on EMR shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Emerson Electric from $140.00 to $142.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Emerson Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Emerson Electric from $158.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Emerson Electric from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Emerson Electric in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $147.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $131.67.

Emerson Electric Price Performance

NYSE EMR traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $105.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,842,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,938,463. The company has a quick ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Emerson Electric Co. has a 1 year low of $90.06 and a 1 year high of $134.85. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $108.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.60. The company has a market capitalization of $59.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.28.

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.10. Emerson Electric had a net margin of 13.74% and a return on equity of 12.08%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Emerson Electric Co. will post 5.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Emerson Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.5275 per share. This represents a $2.11 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Emerson Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.36%.

About Emerson Electric

Emerson Electric Co, a technology and software company, provides various solutions for customers in industrial, commercial, and consumer markets in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. It operates in six segments: Final Control, Control Systems & Software, Measurement & Analytical, AspenTech, Discrete Automation, and Safety & Productivity.