The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Short Interest Update

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 35,700 shares, a decrease of 9.8% from the March 15th total of 39,600 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Eastern by 157.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,474 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Eastern by 134.7% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,370 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360 shares during the period. Comerica Bank bought a new stake in Eastern in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Eastern in the 4th quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 4,559 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EML has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eastern from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Eastern from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th.

Eastern Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of EML traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $31.93. 31,469 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,826. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $27.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.84. Eastern has a twelve month low of $16.10 and a twelve month high of $35.78. The stock has a market cap of $198.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.31 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Eastern had a net margin of 3.14% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The business had revenue of $67.00 million for the quarter.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Eastern's payout ratio is presently 32.12%.

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.