The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Shares Sold by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL decreased its position in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 503,619 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,924 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned approximately 0.08% of Eastern worth $13,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Eastern by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 127,108 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Eastern by 8.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 68,301 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,216,000 after acquiring an additional 5,225 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern during the third quarter valued at $231,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Eastern by 19.1% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 16,099 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Eastern by 226.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 5,027 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eastern Stock Down 3.3 %

EML opened at $21.36 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $26.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market cap of $130.85 million, a P/E ratio of -20.74 and a beta of 0.89. The Eastern Company has a 12 month low of $21.01 and a 12 month high of $35.03.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 11th. The industrial products company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $66.70 million for the quarter. Eastern had a negative net margin of 2.26% and a positive return on equity of 10.44%.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio is presently -33.08%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Eastern from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th.

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.