The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Short Interest Up 222.9% in July

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 131,100 shares, an increase of 222.9% from the June 30th total of 40,600 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 34,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Insider Transactions at Eastern

In other Eastern news, CEO Mark Anthony Hernandez acquired 2,341 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $28.99 per share, with a total value of $67,865.59. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,021,868.51. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 17.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EML. Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Eastern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 14,373 shares during the period. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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 Thursday.

Eastern Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of EML stock traded down $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.41. 8,599 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,451. The stock has a market cap of $176.99 million, a P/E ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.50. Eastern has a 52-week low of $16.10 and a 52-week high of $35.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.63 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter. Eastern had a net margin of 3.69% and a return on equity of 8.44%. The business had revenue of $67.93 million during the quarter.

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.