Short Interest in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Drops By 17.3%

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN – Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,290,000 shares, a drop of 17.3% from the March 31st total of 1,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $104.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50-day moving average of $109.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.93. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $98.24 and a 1 year high of $130.47.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $2.18 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 19.79% and a net margin of 7.59%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Eastman Chemical will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 15th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is currently 49.75%.

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Mark K. Cox sold 4,858 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on Friday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.79, for a total value of $586,797.82. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Christopher Moore Killian sold 14,738 shares of Eastman Chemical stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.75, for a total value of $1,809,089.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.87% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,053,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,215,615,000 after purchasing an additional 394,406 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,677,811 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $269,120,000 after purchasing an additional 25,673 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,377,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $239,502,000 after purchasing an additional 11,871 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,782,154 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,534,000 after acquiring an additional 279,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Eastman Chemical by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,507,829 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $180,487,000 after acquiring an additional 272,326 shares during the last quarter. 87.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EMN. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $139.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $126.00 to $118.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 9th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $150.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Eastman Chemical to $155.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Eastman Chemical from $142.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.07.

Eastman Chemical Company Profile (Get Rating)

Eastman Chemical Company operates as a specialty materials company in the United States and internationally. The company's Additives & Functional Products segment offers hydrocarbon and rosin resins; organic acid-based solutions; amine derivative-based building blocks; metam-based soil fumigants, thiram and ziram based fungicides, and plant growth regulators; specialty coalescent, specialty and commodity solvents, paint additives, and specialty polymers; heat transfer and aviation fluids; insoluble sulfur and anti-degradant rubber additives; and performance resins.

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