The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Director Frederick D. Disanto Acquires 1,000 Shares

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) Director Frederick D. Disanto bought 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $23.25 per share, with a total value of $23,250.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 80,158 shares in the company, valued at $1,863,673.50. This represents a 1.26% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Eastern Price Performance

EML traded up $0.17 during trading on Monday, hitting $23.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,324. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $22.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The Eastern Company has a 12 month low of $19.06 and a 12 month high of $35.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.84 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Eastern Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Eastern by 19.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Eastern by 165.2% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,336 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 2,077 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,346 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.