Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) Share Price Crosses Below 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $29.22 and traded as low as $28.05. Eastern shares last traded at $28.06, with a volume of 3,541 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Eastern from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 8th.

Eastern Stock Down 1.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $173.41 million, a PE ratio of -27.24 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $27.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.42.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Eastern’s dividend payout ratio is currently -42.72%.

Institutional Trading of Eastern

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 72.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 11,952 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,667,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 45.3% in 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 buying an additional 4,218 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 719.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 6,524 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Eastern by 129.1% in the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

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.