The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Director Frederick D. Disanto Buys 1,000 Shares

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Director Frederick D. Disanto purchased 1,000 shares of Eastern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $23.25 per share, for a total transaction of $23,250.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 80,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,863,673.50. This trade represents a 1.26% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Eastern Price Performance

Shares of EML opened at $23.36 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.53. The firm has a market cap of $143.59 million, a PE ratio of -22.68 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The Eastern Company has a 1-year low of $19.06 and a 1-year high of $35.03.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.10). Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.44% and a negative net margin of 2.26%. The firm had revenue of $63.31 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.33 million.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -33.33%.

Institutional Trading of Eastern

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Eastern by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,755 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367 shares during the last quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC grew its position in Eastern by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC now owns 500,978 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $13,296,000 after acquiring an additional 3,768 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 16,099 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 2,577 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Eastern by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,491 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its holdings in Eastern by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 55,395 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after buying an additional 4,030 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut Eastern from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Eastern Company Profile

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.