Insider Buying: Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Director Buys 2,925 Shares of Stock

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML) Director Frederick Disanto bought 2,925 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.82 per share, for a total transaction of $55,048.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 96,851 shares in the company, valued at $1,822,735.82. This trade represents a 3.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Eastern Stock Up 1.3%

NASDAQ:EML traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $18.80. The company had a trading volume of 17,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,100. Eastern Company has a twelve month low of $18.49 and a twelve month high of $31.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $114.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.24 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.85.

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

Eastern Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EML. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eastern in the third quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Millennium Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern in the 3rd quarter valued at $202,000. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in Eastern during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Eastern by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 67,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eastern in a report on Thursday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to 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.