The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Short Interest Down 11.6% in September

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 97,700 shares, a drop of 11.6% from the September 15th total of 110,500 shares. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 29,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,190,000. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Eastern during the 2nd quarter worth about $632,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Eastern by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after acquiring an additional 14,373 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Eastern by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 386,281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,838,000 after acquiring an additional 8,835 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Eastern by 38.6% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 20,150 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,610 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastern Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of EML stock opened at $32.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.36 million, a P/E ratio of 20.44 and a beta of 1.02. Eastern has a fifty-two week low of $16.10 and a fifty-two week high of $35.78.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $73.15 million during the quarter. Eastern had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 9.05%.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Eastern from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

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.