Frederick D. Disanto Purchases 1,116 Shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Stock

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Director Frederick D. Disanto bought 1,116 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.22 per share, with a total value of $25,913.52. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 73,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,697,916.06. This represents a 1.55% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Eastern Price Performance

Shares of Eastern stock opened at $22.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $139.17 million, a PE ratio of -21.98 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.87 and a 200 day moving average of $26.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.42 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.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) 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). Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.44% and a negative net margin of 2.26%. The firm had revenue of $63.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.33 million.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Eastern’s payout ratio is -33.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Eastern from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EML. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Eastern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Eastern by 7,124.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 2,921 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastern by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,824 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern by 12.3% in the 4th 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. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.