Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Cuts Holdings in The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC cut its position in shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,509 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 575 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned approximately 0.30% of Eastern worth $491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EML. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in Eastern during the third quarter worth about $1,667,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Eastern by 72.7% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 11,952 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Eastern in the third quarter valued at about $231,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Eastern by 719.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $241,000 after acquiring an additional 6,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP boosted its stake in Eastern by 15.9% in the third quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 40,922 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Eastern Stock Performance

Shares of EML stock opened at $26.31 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.67 million, a P/E ratio of -25.54 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.64, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $27.69 and its 200 day moving average is $29.28. The Eastern Company has a 12 month low of $22.63 and a 12 month high of $35.78.

Eastern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Eastern’s payout ratio is currently -42.72%.

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.

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.