Eastern Company (The) $EML is Teton Advisors Inc.'s 5th Largest Position

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. cut its stake in Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML - Free Report) by 13.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 149,365 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 24,095 shares during the quarter. Eastern makes up approximately 2.4% of Teton Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Teton Advisors Inc. owned approximately 2.43% of Eastern worth $3,782,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Eastern by 7,124.4% in the first 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Eastern by 165.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,221 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 11,974 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Eastern by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,336 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,077 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Eastern by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,346 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Eastern by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 18,088 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,593 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Eastern Price Performance

EML stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $23.76. The stock had a trading volume of 10,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,206. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Eastern Company has a 52 week low of $19.06 and a 52 week high of $35.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.94 million, a P/E ratio of -18.00 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.82.

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

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Eastern's payout ratio is -33.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frederick D. Disanto purchased 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $22.58 per share, for a total transaction of $67,740.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 86,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,952,018.42. This trade represents a 3.60% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 11,361 shares of company stock valued at $258,179. 17.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.