California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Holdings in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,257 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $20,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 46.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,721 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,590,000 after purchasing an additional 6,616 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 15.9% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 6.4% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 76,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,888,000 after purchasing an additional 4,626 shares during the last quarter. Edmp Inc. raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 75.3% in the third quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 4,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 9.6% in the third quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,065 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on EMN shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Eastman Chemical in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. 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.com, Eastman Chemical currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.31.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

NYSE:EMN opened at $95.56 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.47. Eastman Chemical has a 52-week low of $68.89 and a 52-week high of $102.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.20. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.95% and a net margin of 10.16%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.63 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.75%.

Insider Transactions at Eastman Chemical

In other news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.93% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical 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.