The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Director Acquires $45,740.00 in Stock

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) Director Frederick D. Disanto bought 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $22.87 per share, for a total transaction of $45,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 75,123 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,718,063.01. This represents a 2.74% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Eastern Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EML traded down $0.48 during trading on Thursday, reaching $22.30. The stock had a trading volume of 4,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,594. The Eastern Company has a 52 week low of $19.06 and a 52 week high of $35.03. The business's 50-day moving average price is $22.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.76. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $137.08 million, a PE ratio of -21.65 and a beta of 1.08.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last posted 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 negative net margin of 2.26% and a positive return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $63.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.33 million.

Eastern Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -33.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EML. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Eastern by 218.2% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,120 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Eastern during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Eastern by 7,124.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 2,921 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Eastern during the 1st quarter worth $127,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Eastern by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,824 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded 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.