Axa S.A. Acquires 20,183 Shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN)

Axa S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) by 90.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,183 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Eastman Chemical were worth $4,174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Eastman Chemical by 649.8% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,511,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $452,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909,740 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 318.2% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 701,947 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,516,000 after buying an additional 534,081 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Eastman Chemical by 34.5% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 852,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $83,524,000 after acquiring an additional 218,531 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eastman Chemical by 11.0% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,199,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $220,478,000 after acquiring an additional 217,720 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Eastman Chemical by 9.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,280,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,435,000 after acquiring an additional 198,645 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Eastman Chemical Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:EMN opened at $112.38 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $13.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Eastman Chemical has a 12 month low of $68.89 and a 12 month high of $114.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $100.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.22.

Eastman Chemical (NYSE:EMN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The basic materials company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Eastman Chemical had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 9.65%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.99 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Eastman Chemical will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eastman Chemical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Eastman Chemical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on EMN shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Eastman Chemical from $114.00 to $111.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Eastman Chemical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Eastman Chemical in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.07.

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.