Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Key Points

• Earnings Report: Eastern reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, with a negative net margin of 3.01% and a positive return on equity of 10.22%.
• Dividend Announcement: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.11 per share, payable on September 15th, representing an annualized yield of 2.0%.
• Stock Activity: Eastern's stock saw a mid-day trading increase of 0.8% to $22.51, with a current ratio of 2.77 and significant institutional ownership at 76.99%.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The industrial products company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.03, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $70.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.87 million. Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.53% and a negative net margin of 3.06%.

Eastern Price Performance

NASDAQ:EML traded up $0.01 on Thursday, reaching $22.30. 2,126 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,671. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.35. The firm has a market cap of $137.15 million, a PE ratio of -16.89 and a beta of 1.13. Eastern has a 12 month low of $19.06 and a 12 month high of $35.03.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastern news, Director Frederick D. Disanto purchased 1,923 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $22.20 per share, with a total value of $42,690.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 75,046 shares in the company, valued at $1,666,021.20. The trade was a 2.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders bought 8,447 shares of company stock worth $193,379 over the last quarter. 17.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EML. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Eastern during the first quarter valued at about $127,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Eastern by 7.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.