Short Interest in Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML) Decreases By 47.7%

Key Points

• Short interest in Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) has experienced a significant decline of 47.7% in August, dropping to 25,800 shares from 49,300 shares.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.57, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.54, alongside revenues of $70.16 million.
• Eastern Company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.11 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.7%.

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 25,800 shares, a drop of 47.7% from the August 15th total of 49,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 10,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 0.5% of the company's stock are sold short. Currently, 0.5% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 10,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eastern

In other Eastern news, Director Frederick D. Disanto bought 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The stock was bought 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 approximately $1,952,018.42. The trade was a 3.60% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders bought 7,310 shares of company stock worth $166,533 in the last three months. 17.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Eastern by 295.9% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,738 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,299 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Eastern in the second quarter worth about $70,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in Eastern by 1.8% in the second quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 511,218 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $11,666,000 after purchasing an additional 8,999 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Eastern by 3.5% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 18,455 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Minerva Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 3.8% during the second 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 last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastern Stock Performance

EML stock traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.14. The company had a trading volume of 12,610 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,089. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $23.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.51. Eastern has a fifty-two week low of $19.06 and a fifty-two week high of $35.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.45 million, a PE ratio of -19.80 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Eastern's payout ratio is presently -33.33%.

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.