Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Share Price Passes Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $29.22 and traded as low as $28.05. Eastern shares last traded at $28.06, with a volume of 3,541 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Eastern Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $178.97 million, a P/E ratio of -28.12 and a beta of 0.98. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.23.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio is presently -42.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Eastern by 72.7% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,952 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern during the third quarter valued at $1,667,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Eastern by 45.3% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 4,218 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Eastern by 719.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 6,524 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Eastern by 129.1% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.