Guardian Partners Inc. Purchases New Shares in Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR)

Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE:EMR) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 130,801 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,735,000. Emerson Electric accounts for approximately 1.6% of Guardian Partners Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB increased its position in Emerson Electric by 127.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,544,439 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $278,285,000 after acquiring an additional 1,424,800 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Emerson Electric by 10.6% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in Emerson Electric by 664.7% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 2,918 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Emerson Electric by 7.2% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 25,373 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,775,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Emerson Electric by 3.3% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 833,171 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $91,124,000 after acquiring an additional 26,505 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on EMR. StockNews.com cut shares of Emerson Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Emerson Electric in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Barclays cut shares of Emerson Electric from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $110.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Emerson Electric from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Daiwa America upgraded shares of Emerson Electric to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $136.22.

Emerson Electric Stock Performance

EMR stock opened at $112.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $63.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.95, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.14. Emerson Electric Co. has a one year low of $96.62 and a one year high of $134.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a current ratio of 1.54.

Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The industrial products company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts forecast that Emerson Electric Co. will post 5.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Emerson Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.5275 per share. This represents a $2.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Emerson Electric’s payout ratio is 50.36%.

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.