Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Shares Pass Below 200 Day Moving Average - Should You Sell?

Key Points

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Shares of Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $24.01 and traded as low as $21.85. Eastern shares last traded at $22.59, with a volume of 18,791 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Eastern Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $148.17 million, a PE ratio of -18.40 and a beta of 1.13. The stock's 50 day moving average is $23.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. 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 1.8%. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -33.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frederick D. Disanto purchased 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $22.58 per share, with a total value of $67,740.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 86,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,018.42. This represents a 3.60% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 13,361 shares of company stock valued at $303,919. Company insiders own 17.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Eastern

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EML. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Eastern by 218.2% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,120 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Eastern in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Eastern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Eastern by 7,124.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 2,921 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company's stock.

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.