Short Interest in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Drops By 11.6%

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in 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. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 29,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Eastern Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EML traded up $0.20 on Thursday, reaching $33.00. 10,317 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,680. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Eastern has a 1-year low of $16.10 and a 1-year high of $35.78. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.71 and a 200-day moving average of $29.42. The firm has a market cap of $205.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89 and a beta of 1.02.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company 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 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Eastern’s payout ratio is 27.85%.

Institutional Trading of Eastern

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Eastern by 7.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,356 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Eastern by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 69,047 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Eastern by 37.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after buying an additional 14,373 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers acquired a new position in shares of Eastern in the second quarter worth $134,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern in the second quarter valued at $1,190,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.