Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Eaton Vance (NYSE:EV) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning. They currently have $45.00 target price on the asset manager’s stock.
According to Zacks, “Shares of Eaton Vance have underperformed the industry over the past year. The company has a decent earnings surprise history, having surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters. Earnings estimates have been going down ahead of the company's first quarter fiscal 2019 (ended Jan 31) results. While the use of high debt, mounting expenses remain major near-term concerns for the company, revenue growth is expected to continue, mainly driven by steadily improving assets under management (AUM) as well as diverse product offerings and investment strategies. Also, the company's impressive capital deployment plan reflects strong balance sheet position.”
Get Eaton Vance alerts:Several other research firms also recently weighed in on EV. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Eaton Vance from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a hold rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Eaton Vance in a report on Tuesday, December 4th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Eaton Vance from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the company from $60.50 to $47.00 in a report on Monday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Eaton Vance from a buy rating to a hold rating and dropped their target price for the company from $57.00 to $39.00 in a report on Thursday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a hold rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Eaton Vance in a report on Wednesday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $43.00.
EV stock opened at $39.17 on Wednesday. Eaton Vance has a one year low of $32.28 and a one year high of $58.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 5.67 and a current ratio of 5.67. The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.20, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.56.
Eaton Vance (NYSE:EV) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 27th. The asset manager reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.85. Eaton Vance had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 35.94%. The firm had revenue of $435.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $435.02 million. Analysts forecast that Eaton Vance will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 31st will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 30th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. Eaton Vance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.61%.
In other Eaton Vance news, Director Winthrop H. Smith, Jr. purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $34.89 per share, for a total transaction of $348,900.00. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.
Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BTIM Corp. grew its stake in shares of Eaton Vance by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. BTIM Corp. now owns 650,114 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,871,000 after acquiring an additional 41,581 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Eaton Vance by 11.0% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 15,012 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Eaton Vance by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 276,979 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,744,000 after acquiring an additional 16,891 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Eaton Vance by 1.4% in the third quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 133,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $7,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Eaton Vance by 97.4% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 28,653 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,506,000 after acquiring an additional 14,137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.84% of the company’s stock.
About Eaton Vance
Eaton Vance Corp., through its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, marketing, and management of investment funds in the United States. It also provides investment management and counseling services to institutions and individuals. Further, the company operates as an adviser and distributor of investment companies and separate accounts.
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