Van ECK Associates Corp Has $3.30 Million Stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 133.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 36,707 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,006 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $3,297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 6.4% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 76,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,888,000 after buying an additional 4,626 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 65,941 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,059,000 after acquiring an additional 5,608 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 1.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 412,816 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,671,000 after purchasing an additional 7,173 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 4.5% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 26,482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,032,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 31.7% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eastman Chemical news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Eastman Chemical Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of EMN stock opened at $98.75 on Tuesday. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $68.89 and a 12-month high of $102.71. The company has a market capitalization of $11.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $95.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last posted 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. Eastman Chemical had a net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The business had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. Eastman Chemical’s revenue was down 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $0.81 dividend. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is 41.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EMN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Eastman Chemical from $113.00 to $112.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays increased their price target on Eastman Chemical from $85.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Eastman Chemical from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.18.

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.