Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Director Peggy Scott Buys 1,140 Shares of Stock

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML) Director Peggy Scott purchased 1,140 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.55 per share, with a total value of $22,287.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 24,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,630.10. The trade was a 4.98% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Eastern Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:EML traded up $0.16 during trading on Thursday, reaching $19.81. The stock had a trading volume of 327 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,143. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $20.29 and its 200 day moving average is $22.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.99. Eastern Company has a 52 week low of $18.49 and a 52 week high of $30.03. The stock has a market cap of $120.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 1.00.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.64). The firm had revenue of $55.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.41 million. Eastern had a return on equity of 7.18% and a net margin of 2.96%.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EML. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in Eastern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in 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 worth $40,000 after buying an additional 1,299 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Eastern in the second quarter worth approximately $70,000. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Eastern in the first quarter valued at approximately $127,000. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

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.