Eastern Company (The) $EML Stock Position Cut by Teton Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Teton Advisors Inc. has reduced its stake in Eastern Company by 13.9%, owning approximately 149,365 shares after selling 24,095 shares during the first quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have downgraded Eastern's stock rating from "strong-buy" to "buy", indicating a shift in market sentiment.
• The company recently announced a $0.11 quarterly dividend, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.8%.

Teton Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML - Free Report) by 13.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 149,365 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 24,095 shares during the quarter. Eastern comprises about 2.4% of Teton Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Teton Advisors Inc. owned about 2.43% of Eastern worth $3,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Eastern by 218.2% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,120 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 768 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Eastern during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 2,921 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Eastern by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,346 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Eastern Price Performance

EML stock opened at $24.2940 on Tuesday. Eastern Company has a 52-week low of $19.06 and a 52-week high of $35.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.40 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $23.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.88.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.03. Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.44% and a negative net margin of 3.06%.The firm had revenue of $70.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.87 million.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 1.8%. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern

In related news, Director Frederick D. Disanto purchased 3,000 shares of Eastern stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $22.58 per share, for a total transaction of $67,740.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 86,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,018.42. The trade was a 3.60% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders acquired a total of 13,361 shares of company stock valued at $303,919 in the last three months. 17.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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