Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Director Frederick D. Disanto Acquires 1,000 Shares

Key Points

• Director Frederick Disanto of Eastern Company purchased 1,000 shares of stock for a total of $23,000, increasing his ownership by 1.21% to 83,449 shares valued at approximately $1.9 million.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings of $0.57 per share, surpassing analyst estimates of $0.54, alongside a revenue of $70.16 million.
• Eastern recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.11 per share, resulting in a 2.0% dividend yield, with the payment scheduled for September 15th.

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) Director Frederick D. Disanto acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $23.00 per share, for a total transaction of $23,000.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 83,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,919,327. The trade was a 1.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Eastern Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EML traded up $2.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,143. Eastern Company has a one year low of $19.06 and a one year high of $35.03. The company has a market cap of $148.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.40 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $70.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.87 million. Eastern had a negative net margin of 3.06% and a positive return on equity of 10.44%.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Eastern's payout ratio is currently -33.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Trading of Eastern

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EML. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Eastern by 165.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,221 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 11,974 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eastern by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 128,232 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,404,000 after buying an additional 1,124 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastern by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,824 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $207,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Eastern by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 391,042 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $10,378,000 after acquiring an additional 3,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern by 218.2% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,120 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.