LSV Asset Management Sells 6,500 Shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML)

LSV Asset Management reduced its holdings in shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) by 32.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management owned about 0.22% of Eastern worth $362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern by 0.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 127,108 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,126,000 after buying an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Eastern by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,491 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 955 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eastern by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,755 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Eastern by 19.1% in 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 buying an additional 2,577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 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 worth $13,296,000 after buying an additional 3,768 shares in the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Eastern from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Eastern Stock Performance

Eastern stock opened at $21.36 on Wednesday. The Eastern Company has a fifty-two week low of $21.01 and a fifty-two week high of $35.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 2.64. The stock has a market cap of $130.85 million, a P/E ratio of -20.74 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $26.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.05.

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

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio is currently -33.08%.

Eastern 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.