Insider Buying: The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) CEO Buys 2,341 Shares of Stock

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) CEO Mark Anthony Hernandez purchased 2,341 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.99 per share, with a total value of $67,865.59. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 35,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,021,868.51. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Eastern Price Performance

Shares of EML stock opened at $29.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $181.04 million, a P/E ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The Eastern Company has a 1-year low of $16.10 and a 1-year high of $35.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.23.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $67.93 million during the quarter. Eastern had a net margin of 3.69% and a return on equity of 8.44%.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eastern in the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastern by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,356 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $523,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastern by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 69,047 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,354,000 after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Minerva Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Eastern by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC now owns 427,460 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,695,000 after buying an additional 14,284 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EML shares. TheStreet raised shares of Eastern from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Eastern from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th.

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.