Barclays PLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML)

Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,824 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.13% of Eastern worth $207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Eastern by 226.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 5,027 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Eastern by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,755 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $790,000 after buying an additional 1,367 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Eastern by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 128,232 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,404,000 after buying an additional 1,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Eastern by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 256,278 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,802,000 after buying an additional 9,524 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastern Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of EML stock opened at $23.35 on Tuesday. The Eastern Company has a 12 month low of $19.06 and a 12 month high of $35.03. The stock has a market cap of $143.53 million, a P/E ratio of -22.67 and a beta of 1.08. 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 50 day simple moving average of $23.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.49.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $63.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.33 million. Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.44% and a negative net margin of 2.26%.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.11 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Eastern’s payout ratio is currently -33.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Eastern from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th.

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.