Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Director Frederick Disanto Buys 762 Shares of Stock

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML) Director Frederick Disanto purchased 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $19.47 per share, for a total transaction of $14,836.14. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 91,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,789,799.22. The trade was a 0.84% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Eastern Stock Performance

Eastern stock traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $19.49. 7,091 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,045. Eastern Company has a 12-month low of $19.06 and a 12-month high of $31.67. The business’s 50-day moving average is $22.46 and its 200-day moving average is $22.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.28 million, a PE ratio of -14.77 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.48%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EML. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Eastern by 82.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 295.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,738 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Eastern in the 2nd quarter worth about $70,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Eastern in the 1st quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Eastern by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 8,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 2,338 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.