The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Short Interest Update

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) was the target of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 32,200 shares, a decline of 26.0% from the February 13th total of 43,500 shares. Approximately 0.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 10,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Eastern from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake 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 worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Eastern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastern by 129.1% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $231,000. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastern Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EML traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.62. The company had a trading volume of 6,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,305. Eastern has a 1-year low of $23.15 and a 1-year high of $35.78. The firm has a market cap of $164.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.84 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 2.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.06.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The industrial products company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter. Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.44% and a negative net margin of 2.26%. The firm had revenue of $66.70 million during the quarter.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.72%.

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.