Insider Buying: The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) CEO Acquires 2,341 Shares of Stock

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) CEO Mark Anthony Hernandez acquired 2,341 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $28.99 per share, with a total value of $67,865.59. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,021,868.51. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Eastern Stock Down 6.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EML traded down $1.79 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $27.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 30,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,192. The Eastern Company has a 12-month low of $16.10 and a 12-month high of $35.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $30.59 and a 200-day moving average of $25.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.44 million, a P/E ratio of 18.36 and a beta of 1.16.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Eastern had a return on equity of 8.44% and a net margin of 3.69%. The business had revenue of $67.93 million during the quarter.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Minerva Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastern by 3.5% in the third quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC now owns 427,460 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,695,000 after acquiring an additional 14,284 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern during the 4th quarter valued at about $75,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern by 7.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,356 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $523,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC grew its position in Eastern by 1.8% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 69,047 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,354,000 after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on EML shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Eastern from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. TheStreet upgraded Eastern from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th.

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.