Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Stock Price Passes Below 200 Day Moving Average - What's Next?

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) shares crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $24.83 and traded as low as $23.65. Eastern shares last traded at $24.00, with a volume of 10,231 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Eastern Stock Up 1.7%

The stock's fifty day moving average is $23.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.83. The firm has a market cap of $150.06 million, a P/E ratio of -18.48 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Eastern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Eastern's dividend payout ratio is currently -33.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frederick D. Disanto acquired 1,923 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $22.20 per share, for a total transaction of $42,690.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 75,046 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,666,021.20. The trade was a 2.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have purchased a total of 8,447 shares of company stock worth $193,379 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 17.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EML. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake 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 period. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Eastern in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Eastern by 7,124.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 2,921 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Eastern during the first quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in Eastern by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,824 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.