Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Director Acquires $18,464.07 in Stock

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) Director James Mitarotonda acquired 933 shares of Eastern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $19.79 per share, with a total value of $18,464.07. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 632,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,517,175. The trade was a 0.15% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Eastern Stock Performance

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NASDAQ EML traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $19.49. The stock had a trading volume of 7,091 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,044. Eastern Company has a 52-week low of $19.06 and a 52-week high of $31.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $22.55 and a 200 day moving average of $22.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a market cap of $118.28 million, a P/E ratio of -14.77 and a beta of 0.98.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.64). The business had revenue of $55.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.41 million. Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.44% and a negative net margin of 3.06%.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EML. Minerva Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Eastern by 1.0% in the first quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC now owns 505,987 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $12,812,000 after buying an additional 5,009 shares in the last quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC acquired a new position in Eastern during the first quarter worth $591,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Eastern by 43.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 20,533 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 6,219 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Eastern by 7.1% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 31,855 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Eastern during the 1st quarter worth about $127,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Eastern in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold".

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Eastern

About Eastern

The Eastern Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered solutions to industrial markets in the United States and internationally. The company offers turnkey returnable packaging solutions, which are used in the assembly processes of vehicles, aircraft, and durable goods, as well as in production processes of plastic packaging products, packaged consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals; designs and manufactures blow mold tools and injection blow mold tooling products, and 2-step stretch blow molds and related components for the stretch blow molding industry; and supplies blow molds and change parts to the food, beverage, healthcare, and chemical industries.

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