GAMMA Investing LLC Invests $80,000 in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 955 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.0% during the third 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 Eastman Chemical by 37.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,795,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $214,496,000 after buying an additional 760,974 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 2.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,407,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $184,724,000 after buying an additional 51,788 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 19.9% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,807,691 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $138,686,000 after buying an additional 299,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,328,396 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $101,915,000 after acquiring an additional 23,009 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the firm’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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on EMN shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target 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. KeyCorp upped their price target on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $102.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Monday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.41.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EMN opened at $97.34 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.56. Eastman Chemical has a 1-year low of $68.89 and a 1-year high of $102.71. The firm has a market cap of $11.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.95% and a net margin of 10.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 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.