Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Stock Passes Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Here's Why

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) shares crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $24.64 and traded as low as $22.55. Eastern shares last traded at $22.57, with a volume of 12,893 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Eastern Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $143.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 1.08. The stock's fifty day moving average is $23.31 and its 200-day moving average is $24.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $63.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.33 million. Eastern had a negative net margin of 3.01% and a positive return on equity of 10.22%.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern

In related news, Director Frederick D. Disanto purchased 2,000 shares of Eastern stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $22.87 per share, for a total transaction of $45,740.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 75,123 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,718,063.01. This represents a 2.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have purchased a total of 8,447 shares of company stock valued at $193,379 in the last ninety days. 17.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EML. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Eastern by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,491 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $623,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its holdings in Eastern by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 55,395 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,030 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Eastern by 165.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,221 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 11,974 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Eastern by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 128,232 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $3,404,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Eastern by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 256,278 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,802,000 after purchasing an additional 9,524 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company's stock.

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.