Foster & Motley Inc. Reduces Position in Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR)

Foster & Motley Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,197 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 245 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Emerson Electric were worth $311,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Emerson Electric by 7.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,750,393 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,327,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,294 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Emerson Electric by 16.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,199,836 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $791,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,202 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Emerson Electric by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,447,248 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $723,873,000 after acquiring an additional 1,558,903 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Emerson Electric by 2.4% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,167,611 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $692,176,000 after acquiring an additional 168,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Emerson Electric by 2.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,865,155 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $566,398,000 after buying an additional 165,249 shares during the last quarter. 74.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EMR. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Emerson Electric from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Emerson Electric from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Emerson Electric from $100.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on Emerson Electric from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Emerson Electric from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mark A. Blinn sold 2,413 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.18, for a total transaction of $248,973.34. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $989,599.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Emerson Electric Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EMR opened at $109.62 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $110.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Emerson Electric Co. has a 12-month low of $76.94 and a 12-month high of $115.26. The company has a market cap of $62.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.37.

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Emerson Electric Co. will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Emerson Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a dividend of $0.525 per share. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. Emerson Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.94%.

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.