Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) to Buy

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has $125.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $102.00.

EMN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Eastman Chemical from $95.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 5th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eastman Chemical currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $101.41.

Eastman Chemical Stock Performance

EMN opened at $97.34 on Monday. Eastman Chemical has a 1-year low of $68.89 and a 1-year high of $102.71. The stock has a market cap of $11.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.61 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Eastman Chemical will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 41.75%.

Insider Activity at Eastman Chemical

In other Eastman Chemical 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 transaction of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eastman Chemical

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Czech National Bank grew its stake in Eastman Chemical by 46.9% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,721 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,590,000 after buying an additional 6,616 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Eastman Chemical by 15.9% during the 3rd 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 period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 76,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,888,000 after purchasing an additional 4,626 shares in the last quarter. Edmp Inc. raised its position in Eastman Chemical by 75.3% in the third quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 4,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011 shares during the period. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 9.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.