Capital Analysts LLC Lowers Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Capital Analysts LLC reduced its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 32.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 568 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 271 shares during the quarter. Capital Analysts LLC’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $51,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the fourth quarter valued at $205,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter worth about $8,592,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 37.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,496,000 after acquiring an additional 760,974 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,079,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $82,791,000 after acquiring an additional 19,450 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Eastman Chemical by 1.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,978,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $305,258,000 after acquiring an additional 39,860 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EMN has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eastman Chemical has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.81.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.93% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

EMN opened at $96.42 on Friday. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $68.89 and a 52-week high of $102.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $92.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.62.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.03. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 9.71% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for 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. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.26%.

Eastman Chemical Company Profile

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.