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

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML) Director Peggy Scott acquired 1,140 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $19.55 per share, for a total transaction of $22,287.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 24,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,630.10. This trade represents a 4.98% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Eastern Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ EML traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.65. The stock had a trading volume of 9,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,184. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Eastern Company has a 1-year low of $18.49 and a 1-year high of $30.72. The company has a market capitalization of $119.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.39.

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). The business had revenue of $55.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.41 million. Eastern had a net margin of 2.96% and a return on equity of 7.18%.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.48%.

Institutional Trading of Eastern

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Minerva Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eastern by 1.0% in the third quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC now owns 530,053 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,435,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in Eastern by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 511,218 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,666,000 after buying an additional 8,999 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Eastern by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 257,126 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,032,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 0.4% during the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 165,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teton Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern during the third quarter worth about $3,293,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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