Short Interest in Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) Expands By 6.3%

Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,410,000 shares, an increase of 6.3% from the March 31st total of 6,030,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,680,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company's shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Emerson Electric

In other Emerson Electric news, Director Mark A. Blinn sold 2,413 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.18, for a total value of $248,973.34. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,591 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $989,599.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Emerson Electric

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Emerson Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $764,604,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in Emerson Electric by 255.5% in the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 2,803,881 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $270,771,000 after buying an additional 2,015,232 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Emerson Electric by 219.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,601,619 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $253,216,000 after buying an additional 1,786,583 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Emerson Electric by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,447,248 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $723,873,000 after buying an additional 1,558,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Emerson Electric by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,435,524 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,307,680,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488,948 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Emerson Electric from $120.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on shares of Emerson Electric from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Emerson Electric from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Emerson Electric from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Emerson Electric from $106.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $116.25.

Emerson Electric Stock Performance

EMR stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $106.41. 3,556,729 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,642,852. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $60.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.54, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.36. Emerson Electric has a 1-year low of $76.94 and a 1-year high of $115.26. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $110.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.56.

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.18. Emerson Electric had a net margin of 69.33% and a return on equity of 11.59%. The firm had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.91 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Emerson Electric will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Emerson Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $0.525 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Emerson Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.94%.

Emerson Electric Company 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.