Barclays PLC Has $223,000 Stake in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML)

Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) by 277.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,875 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,055 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned 0.11% of Eastern worth $223,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in EML. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,739 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers acquired a new position in shares of Eastern during the 2nd quarter valued at about $134,000. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Eastern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $231,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in 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 last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in 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 worth $439,000 after buying an additional 4,218 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eastern from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th.

Eastern Price Performance

Shares of Eastern stock opened at $28.15 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The Eastern Company has a fifty-two week low of $22.63 and a fifty-two week high of $35.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.36. The company has a market cap of $173.97 million, a PE ratio of -27.33 and a beta of 0.99.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $71.27 million during the quarter. Eastern had a negative net margin of 2.26% and a positive return on equity of 10.44%.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Eastern’s payout ratio is -42.72%.

Eastern Company 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.