Sarasin & Partners LLP Increases Position in Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR)

Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR - Free Report) by 26.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,226,690 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 460,460 shares during the period. Emerson Electric makes up 2.6% of Sarasin & Partners LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned approximately 0.39% of Emerson Electric worth $244,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Emerson Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new position in shares of Emerson Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Emerson Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Emerson Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 74.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on EMR shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Emerson Electric from $112.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Emerson Electric from $158.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Emerson Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of 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, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Emerson Electric from $133.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Emerson Electric presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $135.00.

Emerson Electric Trading Down 0.3%

Emerson Electric stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $126.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,488,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,942,969. The stock has a market cap of $71.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $110.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $118.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.17. Emerson Electric Co. has a 12 month low of $90.06 and a 12 month high of $134.85.

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.42 billion. Emerson Electric had a net margin of 13.74% and a return on equity of 12.08%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Emerson Electric Co. will post 5.96 EPS for the current year.

Emerson Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $0.5275 dividend. This represents a $2.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. Emerson Electric's payout ratio is currently 50.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.