StockNews.com Downgrades Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) to Buy

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

Eastern Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ:EML traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $28.31. The company had a trading volume of 14,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,911. Eastern has a 1 year low of $22.63 and a 1 year high of $35.78. The company has a market cap of $174.96 million, a P/E ratio of -27.49 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.88 and a 200 day moving average of $29.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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 $71.27 million during the quarter.

Institutional Trading of Eastern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EML. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in Eastern during the third quarter worth $1,667,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastern by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 127,108 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Eastern by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 68,301 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,216,000 after acquiring an additional 5,225 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Eastern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $231,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Eastern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $632,000. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.