First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Acquires Shares of 2,280 Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,280 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 213.8% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 408 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastman Chemical in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Price Performance

Shares of EMN stock opened at $100.76 on Thursday. Eastman Chemical has a 12-month low of $68.89 and a 12-month high of $102.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $95.83 and a 200-day moving average of $87.85.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last announced 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 net margin of 10.16% and a return on equity of 13.84%. The company 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 business earned $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Eastman Chemical Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 9th. Investors 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 yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. Eastman Chemical’s payout ratio is presently 41.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.75, for a total value of $415,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Eastman Chemical news, CEO Mark J. Costa sold 102,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.78, for a total transaction of $10,318,864.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 395,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,878,545.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Adrian James Holt sold 4,735 shares of the business’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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on EMN. Citigroup boosted their price objective 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. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $102.00 to $101.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $91.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $101.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.18.

About Eastman Chemical

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.