Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Director Michael Mardy Purchases 1,177 Shares of Stock

Eastern Company (The) (NASDAQ:EML) Director Michael Mardy purchased 1,177 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.55 per share, for a total transaction of $23,010.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $331,685.30. This represents a 7.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Eastern Stock Up 0.8%

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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $20.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.37. The company has a market capitalization of $120.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Eastern Company has a one year low of $18.49 and a one year high of $30.03.

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

Eastern Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Trading of Eastern

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EML. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Eastern by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 20,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 6,219 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Eastern by 7.1% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 31,855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern during the first quarter valued at $127,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Eastern in the 2nd quarter worth about $326,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Eastern by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 138,918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,171,000 after buying an additional 8,205 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently 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.