The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Short Interest Down 26.0% in February

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 32,200 shares, a drop of 26.0% from the February 13th total of 43,500 shares. Approximately 0.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Eastern Stock Performance

Eastern stock traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $26.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,045. Eastern has a 1-year low of $23.15 and a 1-year high of $35.78. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $27.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.99. The company has a market cap of $163.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.86 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -33.08%.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EML. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Eastern by 72.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,388 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 11,952 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in Eastern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,667,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Eastern by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,522 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 4,218 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Eastern by 719.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,431 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 6,524 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Eastern by 129.1% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 1,739 shares during the period. 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.