Short Interest in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Declines By 21.5%

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 77,200 shares, a drop of 21.5% from the October 15th total of 98,300 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 28,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Eastern Price Performance

EML stock traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.50. The stock had a trading volume of 9,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,055. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.95 million, a P/E ratio of -27.57 and a beta of 1.02. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.30. Eastern has a 52 week low of $17.82 and a 52 week high of $35.78.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Eastern from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eastern

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Eastern by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,356 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $523,000 after buying an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in Eastern by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 69,047 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,354,000 after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Eastern by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Eastern by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,522 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 4,218 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Eastern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $110,000. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.