Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) Price Target Increased to $114.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) had its price objective raised by Citigroup from $95.00 to $114.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $82.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $89.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Eastman Chemical in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They set a buy rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $96.19.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $100.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.64. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $68.89 and a 12-month high of $102.71. The company has a market capitalization of $11.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.21 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total transaction of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,839,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,332,904,000 after acquiring an additional 61,580 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 4,355,408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,203,000 after acquiring an additional 168,038 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,978,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $305,258,000 after acquiring an additional 39,860 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 37.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,496,000 after acquiring an additional 760,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,575,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $231,357,000 after acquiring an additional 168,009 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

About Eastman Chemical

Eastman Chemical Company operates as a specialty materials company in the United States, China, and internationally. The company's Additives & Functional Products segment offers amine derivative-based building blocks, intermediates for surfactants, metam-based soil fumigants, and organic acid-based solutions; specialty coalescent and solvents, paint additives, and specialty polymers; and heat transfer and aviation fluids.