Frederick D. Disanto Acquires 3,000 Shares of Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Stock

Key Points

• Frederick Disanto, a director at Eastern Company, recently purchased 3,000 shares of the company's stock at an average price of $22.58 per share, increasing his total ownership to 86,449 shares.
• Eastern Company reported quarterly earnings of $0.57 per share, exceeding analyst expectations and generating revenue of $70.16 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.11 per share, to be paid on September 15th, indicating a 2.0% dividend yield.

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) Director Frederick D. Disanto bought 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 86,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,952,018.42. This trade represents a 3.60% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Eastern Trading Up 9.1%

NASDAQ:EML traded up $2.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $24.29. 21,368 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,143. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.12 million, a P/E ratio of -18.40 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.18 and a 200 day moving average of $23.90. Eastern Company has a 12 month low of $19.06 and a 12 month high of $35.03.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $70.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.87 million. Eastern had a negative net margin of 3.06% and a positive return on equity of 10.44%.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Eastern's payout ratio is currently -33.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Trading of Eastern

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eastern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $591,000. Minerva Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastern by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC now owns 525,053 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $11,982,000 after purchasing an additional 19,066 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern during the second quarter valued at approximately $326,000. Citadel Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern in the fourth quarter worth $340,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Eastern by 165.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,221 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $510,000 after purchasing an additional 11,974 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently 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.