Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning.

Eastern Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of Eastern stock opened at $29.14 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $180.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.29 and a beta of 0.98. Eastern has a twelve month low of $20.50 and a twelve month high of $35.78. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $30.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.24.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio is currently -42.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EML. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,739 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eastern during the 2nd quarter valued at $110,000. Rhumbline Advisers bought a new stake in Eastern in the second quarter worth $134,000. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Eastern by 277.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,875 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 5,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Eastern during the third quarter worth $231,000. 76.99% of the stock is 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.