Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $647,000 Position in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $647,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EMN. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Eastman Chemical during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 213.8% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Eastman Chemical during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total transaction of $415,496.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.93% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on EMN shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.31.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

Shares of Eastman Chemical stock opened at $95.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.35. Eastman Chemical has a 1 year low of $68.89 and a 1 year high of $102.71.

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

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

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

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.