American Century Companies Inc. Buys Shares of 24,827 The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML)

American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 24,827 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,000. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.40% of Eastern as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eastern in the 2nd quarter worth $110,000. Rhumbline Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Eastern during the second quarter worth about $134,000. LSV Asset Management grew its stake 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 worth $513,000 after acquiring an additional 5,610 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Eastern by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,356 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Eastern in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,190,000. 76.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Eastern Price Performance

NASDAQ:EML opened at $32.43 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $29.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.41. The firm has a market cap of $202.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.53 and a beta of 1.02. The Eastern Company has a one year low of $16.10 and a one year high of $35.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.60.

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

Eastern Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.