Short Interest in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Drops By 5.3%

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 46,500 shares, a decline of 5.3% from the November 30th total of 49,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 18,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Eastern Stock Up 0.7 %

EML traded up $0.19 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.54. The stock had a trading volume of 7,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,923. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $164.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.77 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $28.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.21. Eastern has a one year low of $20.50 and a one year high of $35.78.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Eastern’s payout ratio is -42.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 14,373 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers bought a new position in shares of Eastern during the second quarter valued at $134,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern during the second quarter valued at $1,190,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Eastern in the 2nd quarter worth about $110,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its position 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 buying an additional 5,610 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Eastern from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th.

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.