StockNews.com Downgrades Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday.

Eastern Trading Up 2.5 %

Eastern stock opened at $28.31 on Thursday. Eastern has a one year low of $22.63 and a one year high of $35.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $27.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.36. The company has a market capitalization of $174.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.49 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter. Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.44% and a negative net margin of 2.26%. The business had revenue of $71.27 million for the quarter.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio is currently -42.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EML. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Eastern by 129.1% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,739 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers bought a new stake in Eastern during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $134,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Eastern by 277.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,875 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 5,055 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in Eastern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $231,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Eastern by 226.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 5,027 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.