Eastern Bank Purchases 74,811 Shares of Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR)

Eastern Bank grew its holdings in shares of Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR - Free Report) by 19.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 456,730 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 74,811 shares during the quarter. Emerson Electric accounts for approximately 1.0% of Eastern Bank's holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Eastern Bank owned approximately 0.08% of Emerson Electric worth $50,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Emerson Electric by 74.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 11,392 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 4,850 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Emerson Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $58,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Emerson Electric by 208.2% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 299 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Emerson Electric by 136.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 19,094 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,366,000 after buying an additional 11,007 shares during the period. Finally, Cannell & Spears LLC increased its stake in shares of Emerson Electric by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC now owns 48,186 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $5,972,000 after buying an additional 598 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EMR. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Emerson Electric from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Emerson Electric from $113.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen raised Emerson Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Emerson Electric from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Emerson Electric from $118.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $142.28.

Emerson Electric Stock Performance

Emerson Electric stock traded down $3.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $141.68. 4,078,731 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,776,646. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The business has a 50 day moving average of $133.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.30. Emerson Electric Co. has a 12 month low of $90.06 and a 12 month high of $150.27.

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.42 billion. Emerson Electric had a return on equity of 13.22% and a net margin of 13.60%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Emerson Electric Co. will post 5.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Emerson Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.5275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $2.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Emerson Electric's payout ratio is 50.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Emerson Electric

In other news, CEO Surendralal Lanca Karsanbhai sold 16,698 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.33, for a total value of $1,892,384.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 164,957 shares in the company, valued at $18,694,576.81. The trade was a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Emerson Electric Profile

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.