James Mitarotonda Buys 933 Shares of Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Stock

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML) Director James Mitarotonda acquired 933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $19.79 per share, for a total transaction of $18,464.07. Following the acquisition, the director owned 632,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,517,175. This trade represents a 0.15% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Eastern Stock Down 1.5%

NASDAQ EML opened at $19.49 on Friday. Eastern Company has a twelve month low of $19.06 and a twelve month high of $31.67. The stock has a market cap of $118.28 million, a PE ratio of -14.77 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.64). Eastern had a negative net margin of 3.06% and a positive return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $55.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.41 million.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Eastern’s payout ratio is currently 35.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EML. Minerva Advisors LLC raised its stake in Eastern by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC now owns 505,987 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,812,000 after buying an additional 5,009 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Eastern by 43.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 20,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $520,000 after acquiring an additional 6,219 shares during the last quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new stake in shares of Eastern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $591,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Eastern by 82.9% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastern by 0.4% in the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 165,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.