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

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

Eastern Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of Eastern stock opened at $27.99 on Wednesday. Eastern has a 12-month low of $20.50 and a 12-month high of $35.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.06 million, a P/E ratio of -27.17 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.23.

Institutional Trading of Eastern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EML. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastern by 0.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 127,108 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Eastern by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,739 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Eastern by 45.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,218 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Eastern in the second quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in Eastern by 277.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,875 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 5,055 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.