Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases New Holdings in Ennis, Inc. (NYSE:EBF)

Key Points

• Empirical Financial Services LLC purchased 57,795 shares of Ennis, Inc. (NYSE:EBF) valued at approximately $1.16 million, increasing their stake to about 0.22% of the company.
• A director at Ennis, Walter D. Gruenes, bought 5,500 shares at an average price of $17.99, boosting his total ownership in the company by 104.90%.
• Ennis announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, representing an annualized payout of $1.00 and a dividend yield of 5.7%.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Ennis, Inc. (NYSE:EBF - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 57,795 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,161,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management owned approximately 0.22% of Ennis as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Ennis by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,526 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Ennis by 2,050.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,902 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 4,674 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ennis by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,935 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ennis in the 4th quarter worth $209,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Ennis by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 11,953 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ennis

In other Ennis news, Director Walter D. Gruenes bought 5,500 shares of Ennis stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.99 per share, for a total transaction of $98,945.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 10,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $193,266.57. This represents a 104.90% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ennis Stock Down 1.2%

EBF stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $17.58. The company had a trading volume of 311,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 155,507. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.40. Ennis, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.15 and a 12-month high of $25.75. The company has a market capitalization of $453.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.48.

Ennis (NYSE:EBF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, June 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Ennis had a net margin of 10.12% and a return on equity of 12.49%. The firm had revenue of $97.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.30 million.

Ennis Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 11th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. Ennis's payout ratio is 65.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ennis from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Ennis Company Profile

Ennis, Inc manufactures and sells business forms and other business products in the United States. The company offers snap sets, continuous forms, laser cut sheets, tags, labels, envelopes, integrated products, jumbo rolls, and pressure sensitive products under the Ennis, Royal Business Forms, Block Graphics, 360º Custom Labels, ColorWorx, Enfusion, Uncompromised Check Solutions, VersaSeal, Ad Concepts, FormSource Limited, Star Award Ribbon Company, Witt Printing, B&D Litho, Genforms, PrintGraphics, Calibrated Forms, PrintXcel, Printegra, Forms Manufacturers, Mutual Graphics, TRI-C Business Forms, Major Business Systems, Independent Printing, Hoosier Data Forms, Hayes Graphics, Wright Business Graphics, Wright 360, Integrated Print & Graphics, the Flesh Company, Impressions Direct, and AmeriPrint brands.