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

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 trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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 $149.00 million, a PE ratio of -18.36 and a beta of 1.08. 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's 50 day moving average price is $23.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.80.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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). Eastern had a negative net margin of 3.01% and a positive return on equity of 10.22%. The company had revenue of $63.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $71.33 million.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -33.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eastern news, Director Frederick D. Disanto acquired 1,923 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $22.20 per share, with a total value of $42,690.60. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have bought 8,447 shares of company stock valued at $193,379 over the last ninety days. 17.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastern

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Eastern by 218.2% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,120 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Eastern in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Eastern by 7,124.4% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Eastern in the first quarter worth about $127,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Eastern by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,824 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares in 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.