Renaissance Technologies LLC Lowers Stake in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML)

Renaissance Technologies LLC cut its stake in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) by 2.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 1.93% of Eastern worth $3,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EML. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Eastern during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,190,000. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern during the second quarter valued at about $632,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Eastern by 37.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 52,259 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after buying an additional 14,373 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Eastern by 2.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 386,281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,838,000 after buying an additional 8,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Eastern by 38.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 20,150 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 5,610 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Eastern from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Eastern Stock Performance

Shares of Eastern stock opened at $32.45 on Tuesday. The Eastern Company has a 52 week low of $16.10 and a 52 week high of $35.78. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.29 million, a P/E ratio of 20.75 and a beta of 1.02.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $73.15 million for the quarter. Eastern had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 9.05%.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Eastern’s payout ratio is 27.85%.

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.