The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Stock Position Raised by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,395 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,030 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned 0.90% of Eastern worth $1,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EML. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Eastern by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,491 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $623,000 after acquiring an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,577 shares during the period. Minerva Advisors LLC grew its position in Eastern by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Minerva Advisors LLC now owns 500,978 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,296,000 after purchasing an additional 3,768 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Eastern by 4.8% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 5,027 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Eastern Stock Performance

Shares of EML stock opened at $26.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $159.58 million, a P/E ratio of -25.29 and a beta of 0.97. 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 Eastern Company has a fifty-two week low of $23.15 and a fifty-two week high of $35.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.82.

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. Eastern had a negative net margin of 2.26% and a positive return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $66.70 million for the quarter.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Eastern’s payout ratio is -33.08%.

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.