Short Interest in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Expands By 19.9%

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 34,300 shares, an increase of 19.9% from the April 30th total of 28,600 shares. Currently, 0.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 10,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Insider Activity at Eastern

In related news, Director Frederick D. Disanto bought 1,923 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $22.20 per share, for a total transaction of $42,690.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 75,046 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,666,021.20. This represents a 2.63% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired a total of 7,365 shares of company stock worth $168,217 in the last three months. 17.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EML. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Eastern by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 16,099 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Eastern by 165.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,221 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 11,974 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Eastern by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,336 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,077 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Eastern by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,346 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eastern Price Performance

Shares of EML traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $23.58. The stock had a trading volume of 6,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,524. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The company has a market capitalization of $144.95 million, a P/E ratio of -22.89 and a beta of 1.08. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $22.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.68. Eastern has a 52 week low of $19.06 and a 52 week high of $35.03.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10). Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.44% and a negative net margin of 2.26%. The firm had revenue of $63.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.33 million.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Eastern's dividend payout ratio is currently -33.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.